A small change
by InsanityInside
Summary: Kind of AU, only not. The world behind the Veil is just… a world. Only a little different from the one we know. But a small change can have quite a lot of unexpected consequences…
1. The Mysteries of the Department

_Disclaimer: Not mine :P (I'm too lazy to write a proper disclaimer :P)_

**Mysteries of the Department**

Fighting again. Finally. _Not doing anything_ is the most tiring thing to do, and he had spent nearly a year like that. He had been _very_ tired of feeling useless. But he did not feel useless any more. He felt excited and almost happy.

'Come on,' he laughed at her 'You can do better than that!' The famous last words of a true Gryffindor. And very soon he regretted saying them.

As he fell backwards, suddenly realising what was behind him, scenes from his life flashed in front of his eyes. _He's five years old, playing with his little brother… He's ten years old, Bella, Reggie and he have just played a prank on Cissy… He's eleven, he's just got his Hogwarts letter… He says goodbye to his parents and brother and gets on the train… He's sitting in the compartment with some other kids, talking to Bella…_ He remembered this moment. In a few seconds he was going to argue with her, and after a few hours tell the Sorting Hat that he did not want to be in one house with her… _But the argument didn't come! Now he was getting on a boat with Bella, Snape and some girl he didn't know._ But this was not what he remembered!

There wasn't much time for thinking about it. He fell over and hit the floor on the other side. He got up and looked around. The room looked exactly the same as the one he had been in a moment ago, but there was nobody there except for him. This was not what he had expected the afterlife to be. Maybe he wasn't dead after all. But where had everybody gone? Maybe this was not the same room? Maybe he had to go back? Sirius stared at the veil for a moment and then started forward. But before he could reach it he heard a voice behind him.

'Stop!' somebody shouted. There were two things Sirius could do: run forwards faster or stop. For some reason unknown even to himself, he chose the second option. He turned around quickly, rising his wand. The other man was holding a wand too, but, surprisingly, didn't seem very eager to use it.

'What are you doing here?' the man asked.

Sirius wasn't quite sure of it himself.

'How did you get in here?' the man asked another question.

'I wish I knew,'

'Who are you?'

Sirius stared at the man. He _really_ didn't know? How was that possible? Oh, well. It just might save his life.

'Why should I tell you?' he asked the stranger.

'Because I asked you,' the man was beginning to get annoyed.

'But what gives you the right to ask?'

'I work here. You're trespassing.'

'You work here?' Sirius knew he had no chance now, but the more questions he asked the more time he had, which is always good in a situation like this 'Can you prove it?'

The Unspeakable showed him an identity card. Of course. What else had he expected? But then he noticed something he had most certainly _not_ expected. The name written on the card: Regulus Black. Well, the stranger did look similar to him… But he was _dead_! It was _impossible_! Unless…

'Oh Merlin…' he whispered 'Am I… am I dead?'

'You look alive to me,' Regulus said 'You look too solid for a ghost and zombies don't ask so many questions.'

'Hang on… Why do you look different? You're older than you were. Almost as old as I am. But I lived longer -'

'Shut up!' Regulus interrupted 'You are not dead!'

'But _you_ are.'

'No, I don't think I am. Now will you tell me already who you are? Or shall I just use an Identity Spell?'

'Magic works here? Good…'

'Of course it does,' said Regulus impatiently 'Whatever you mean by _here_. Now are you going to tell me -?'

'I'm your brother, you little idiot!' Sirius shouted, forgetting all about trying not to get caught. Regulus stared. He didn't seem to believe.

'You aren't,' he said when he regained his ability to talk.

Oh, right. According to their mother they were not brothers any more.

'All right then. I'm not. Just don't tell anyone… Oh, nevermind, they won't believe you. They think I'm in Tibet.' He grinned. He wondered how Kingsley had managed to say it with a straight face.

Regulus stared at him, confused.

'What…? Tibet…? Don't tell…?' he tried to ask about a hundred questions at the same time, but failed miserably. Finally he managed to say 'And I still don't know who the hell you are!'

'I just told you.'

'No, you didn't. You said you were my brother, then you said you weren't… '

'No, _you_ said I wasn't.'

'Because you can't be,' Regulus said, and then, tired of the discussion, he performed the Identity Spell.

'But… but…' he stuttered a second later.

'But what?'

'This can't be right. You're not him. You don't look like him. I mean, maybe a little, but…'

'How can I not look like myself?'

'I don't know… You could have -'

'What do you know about that veil-thing?' Sirius asked suddenly. He had had an idea. A completely insane one, but then, the whole situation was completely insane.

'What?' Regulus asked.

'You work here, don't you? Maybe you know something about it?'

'It's top secret stuff,' the Unspeakable told him.

'It's the only way to find out what's going on!'

'All right… We're not sure yet. You'd probably die if you went through it. Or at least you'd never come back.'

'Or you'd bump into someone who's supposed to be dead and tells you that you aren't really you?'

'What?'

'Well, that's what happened,' Sirius explained 'I fell through that thing, and suddenly you're here, telling me I'm not me.'

Regulus stared at him in disbelief.

'You… went… through… that… thing?'

'I didn't mean to. It's all Bella's fault!'

'Bellatrix?' Regulus seemed to have trouble following his brother's story 'Why the hell would she -?'

'Because I'm a _filthy bloodtraitor_. Oh. And I wouldn't let her have that prophecy and deliver Harry Potter to Voldemort.'

'Bloodtraitor?' Regulus seemed confused for a moment again 'Not in _this_ universe…'

'What? Not in…? What kind of universe is it then?'

The younger brother gasped.

'You're a genious,' he said.

'Yeah, I know,' Sirius answered 'Err… But what did I do?'

'I think we've just solved the biggest mystery of the Department!'

'Does that mean you know what's going on?'

'Not really. It's too weird to be true… But so are you, so maybe I'm right.'

'Hey!' said Sirius, offended 'Why are you calling me weird?'

'How about because you've just appeared here from some other world and you are, sort of, my brother, only you aren't?' Regulus suggested 'I guess there's another world behind that thing,' he added.

'Apparently it's very different from this one,' Sirius commented. He did not know much about _this_ world yet, but it seemed completely crazy.

'I guess it is,' Regulus said, taking in his brother's appearance and probably thinking exactly the same about the world he had come from.


	2. Tell Me Your Story

**Tell Me Your Story**

The Unspeakable still had to check on a few other 'mysteries' before going home that night, but he didn't seem able to concentrate on it. That wasn't really very strange, though. It only proved there was still some sanity left in this world. Visitors from other universes were still considered something very unusual. And, as Regulus made sure things were still in their usual places, his thoughts kept coming back to the room with the veil.

'What's the last thing you remember?' he finally asked his brother.

Sirius thought about it. The answer was not as simple as it should have been. Was it the battle? Fighting with Bellatrix? Falling? Or was it…?

'My whole life…' he finally said.

'What?'

'Sort of like I was dying…' he tried to explain 'My life passing in front of my eyes. Only it wasn't _my_ life really. It was different.'

'What do you mean?' Regulus didn't understand.

'It was my life… Only it happened differently…' Sirius tried to recall as much of the vision as he could 'I didn't fight with Bellatrix on the train… and then there was the Sorting… but I don't remember - '

'What house were you in?' Regulus interrupted him suddenly.

Sirius considered lying or refusing to answer. It didn't seem reasonable to tell him too much about his life. Afer all Regulus, in his world at least, had been a Slytherin… and a Death Eater. But he had tried to _leave_ them. Sirius was not sure his brother had ever really _wanted_ to join them in the first place. For some reason he wanted to trust him. Or maybe he just wanted to trust _someone_?

'Gryffindor,' he finally said 'Why?' he added in a _'You have a problem with that?'_ tone. To his surprise, Regulus started to laugh.

'What?' he asked him.

'Nothing…' Regulus said, still laughing 'It's just… weird… And I'm trying to imagine what Sir- erm… your _other self_… woud say if I told him. Gryffindor! Oh Merlin!'

'I still don't see what's so funny about Gryffindor. It's as good as any other house. Or better.'

'_I_ know it is,' Regulus told him 'I know quite a few Gryffindors. Most of them are all right… But… but…' he burst out laughing again. It annoyed Sirius very much. But finally he began to understand what it might all be about.

'All right,' he asked 'Who _is_ this other me?'

XXX

The two brothers decided that the differences between their worlds were a Long Story, explaining them was likely to take all night and, as Sirius needed a place to stay, they might as well go to Reg's house to talk about it all. They left the Department of Mysteries, went to the narest fireplace and then to a place that looked a lot like the house Uncle Alphard had lived in.

'You can sleep here while you're staying at my house,' Regulus told his brother, opening the door of a guest bedroom.

Sirius looked inside.

'It looks like a kid's room,' he observed 'You have children?'

'No, I don't,' Regulus told him 'My youngest nephew sleeps here sometimes'

'Oh…'

'Yeah, he comes here when he's tired of living with his parents…'

'Nephew… nephew… your nephew…' Sirius muttered, as if not really understanding what his brother had meant 'My son?' he said finally, slightly shocked '_I_ have children?'

'I take it you don't in your world,' Regulus guessed.

'Not that I know of,' said Sirius, smiling even though it was not a happy thought that if he _did_ have any children he didn't know about, they were much better off not knowing about him either.

XXX

'Want something to drink?' Regulus asked when they were back in the living room.

'Sure'

'There's tea, butterbeer, firewhiskey… What do you want?'

'I've just nearly been killed, fallen into a different universe and met a guy who has been dead for sixteen years. What do you think?'

'Oh… right…'

A moment later Regulus came back into the room, carrying a bottle and two glasses.

'Thanks, Reg,' said Sirius, taking his 'Now would you mind telling me about this world?'

'Sure,' Regulus agreed 'No need to hurry, though. Why are you so nervous about it anyway?'

'I don't really know anything about you,' Sirius said 'For all I know, you could be a Death Eater waiting to kill me.'

He realised that it really was possible and put down his glass in case Regulus was trying to _poison_ him. Regulus looked shocked. He spat out a mouthfull of his drink all over the table.

'What?' he said quickly 'Why the hell would I be a Death Eater?'

'Well, you were in _my_ world,' Sirius pointed out 'I don't know _why_. I always thought there was still hope for you. Don't know what posessed you.'

'A Death Eater?' Regulus repeated 'I thought you said I was dead?'

'Oh yeah. That too,' Sirius said, glad that, judging by Regulus's reaction, it was probably safe to finish his drink 'So, are you going to tell me?'

'All right,' Reg said 'Some of it might be quite a shock for you…'

Sirius didn't think anything could really shock him any more. He was sure his own story was much more incredible than anything he could find out tonight.

'You said you were a Gryffindor, didn't you?' Regulus continued.

'Yeah.'

'You wouldn't like your other self…'

'Let me guess. Slytherin?' Sirius was already beginning to hate his counterpart.

'Hey!' Reg said 'There's nothing wrong with Slytherin! I was one, you know?'

'You sound like Slughorn right now,' Sirius commented '_"It's such a pity you're not in my house, m'boy! You would have made an excellent Slytherin… Oh, there's no need to look at me like that, it's not a bad thing!"_' and they both burst out laughing.

'Okay, I guess you're right,' Sirius admited when they finally stopped 'As long as I'm not friends with Snivellus or anything…'

Well, all right. There were things that could have shocked him. That was one of them.

'You mean Snape? No, you never really liked each other.'

Sirius sighed with relief 'So what happened to me then?'

'Well, Mother was proud, of course,' all right, _that_ was a bit of a shock 'Especially since you always got good marks.'

'And I never did anything that made her angry?'

'Well, some pranks you played on James Potter and some others annoyed her a bit,' Reg said with a small laugh 'She sent you a Howler once. _"This is not a proper way for a young aristocrat to behave!"_'

'Oh…'

'Of course she needn't have punished you. James did it himself. The prank war in your fifth year was Filch's worst nightmare…'

'If you think that was bad, imagine me and James as best friends.'

'Whoa…' Regulus gasped 'But you weren't, were you?'

'Why, of course we were!'

'Is the school still standing?'

'Oh, we only blew up _one_ toilet!' of course, they had done a lot of other illegal things, but few of them involved blowing up parts of the school.

As Regulus continued teling the story, Sirius thought his counterpart's life was rather uneventful, compared to his own. The other Sirius had grown up to be very much like his father. He lived in his family's old house, with his wife and three children. (All of them were Slytherins, except for the youngest boy, the one who sometimes slept in the spare bedroom.) One nasty shock was that some people seemed to suspect he might be connected to the Death Eaters, but Regulus did not believe it and he should know.

'What have you been doing anyway?' Regulus asked when he'd finished his story 'You don't look good.'

'Well, you wouldn't look good either if you'd been through the hell I've been through!'

And then another story had to be told.


	3. The DisOrder

**The (Dis)Order**

Sirius woke up. He had had a very strange dream. It had seemed very real, but now that he was awake he knew just how absurd it was. There was no other universe, no other Regulus, no other _him_… and the Order wouldn't have let him leave the house anyway. He opened his eyes to see he was lying on the couch in an unfamiliar room. There was a table in front of him and a nearly empty bottle and two glasses on the table. On the other side of the table a dark-haired man was sleeping in an armchair. So it was true. He really _had_ fallen through that _thing_. He really was _here_.

Suddenly the flames in the fireplace turned green and a face appeared in them. Like Regulus, the man looked older than he had when Sirius had last seen him, but he was unmistakably James Potter. But that was impossible! Well, it seemed that many impossible things had already happened to Sirius during the last night, but he still hoped they would stop happening at some point. But James was still there, staring at him from the fireplace. No, he wasn't! Dead people did _not_ appear in fireplaces in the morning, not even in alternate universes! Sirius was just seeing things. He decided to ignore him.

'Hallo?' James spoke. So now he was _hearing_ things too. But he was _not_ going to talk to his hallucinations. He had survived twelve years in a place where most people go mad in weeks. He was not going to lose his mind _now_. He remained silent, holding on desperately to what was left of his sanity.

'Hallo?' Jams called louder. Regulus woke up and looked at the face in the fire.

'Hello, James,' he said sleepily…

So it was real. He was in a room with two dead men. That in itself wasn't really too disturbing. He had met some dead people before. Nearly Headless Nick really was all right. In fact the only dead people that made him feel uneasy were some of his ancestors' portraits. But James and Regulus were not ghosts or portraits. They were as real as he was. That made him feel rather unsure of how real exactly that was.

'It's almost noon, Reg,' James said 'Don't tell me you were still sleeping!'

'Prongs! You're real! You're alive!' Sirius exclaimed, still staring at him in disbelief.

'Umm… Yeah, I'm alive,' James said slowly 'Who are you?'

'What? Oh, come on! It's me! Padfoot!'

James just stared at him blankly and Sirius remembered what kind of universe he was currently in.

'Oh… Never mind…' he said.

'Um…' James spoke again after a moment of silence 'Reg, I've got something to tell you… Could you… err… ask your… guest to leave for a moment?'

'Why?' Sirius wanted to know.

'Look, I'm sorry… _Padfoot_,' James said 'but it's a secret.'

'He can hear it,' Regulus said 'He already knows… Well, It's complicated, but he can hear it.'

'No, it's ok. I'll leave,' said Sirius 'I'll go to the kitchen to get something for breakfast if you don't mind.'

And he left the room. He couldn't help thinking it was a little unfair. James was supposed to be his best friend. He wasn't supposed to ask him to leave the room. He wasn't supposed to have secrets he could tell Regulus, but not him. Of course, this was a different world and the James Potter who had appeared in the fireplace was not exactly the James Potter he had known.

XXX

'There's an Order meeting this evening,' Regulus announced as he entered the kitchen 'James just told me. Want to come? I think they should know about you.'

'Wait, _you're_ in the Order?' Sirius realised that his brother had not managed to tell him _everything_ last night.

'Of course,' Reg said.

'Sorry, but that's still a little weird. You know…'

'Well, you know what _your_ other self is like. So it's just as weird for me as it is for you.'

As they discussed the differences between their universes again, Sirius wondered how it was possible that they were so different. What had changed? He was really looking forward to the meeting this evening. He would be able to meet many other people he knew. Maybe if he knew how different their lives were he would be able to work it out.

XXX

And finally the evening came. Regulus had informed some people that he was planning to bring someone to the meeting and now the two of them were waiting for something out in the street in some small town that Sirius was sure he had seen before, probably a long time ago, but, like many things in this world, it looked somehow different.

'What are we waiting for?' he asked.

'The Secret-Keeper,' Regulus explained 'You haven't been here before, and the place is hidden, of course.'

'Of course,' he agreed 'Only, I _have_ been here before,' he said 'I know I have. I'm just not sure -'

'Good evening,' said a voice behind them. They both turned around to see two men Sirius recognized immediately as Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and his old friend, Remus Lupin.

'Ah, you must be the mysterious guest Regulus has told me about,' Dumbledore said.

'Yeah, I guess I am.'

'Who are you then? I don't think we have met before.'

'Actually we have,' Sirius said 'But it was… er… a different me… or a different you…'

Remus and Dumbledore didn't seem to understand much of his speech.

'Apparently this is Sirius,' Regulus tried to give an answer that made more sense. Dumbledore looked him with mild surprise. Remus was quite shocked.

'Not – your brother?' he said.

'Well that's where things get more complicated...'

'How about saying I'm your _other self's_ brother?' Sirius suggested.

'It still makes no sense,' Remus said.

'How about _"my brother's other self"_?' Regulus tried.

'What's that with the "other selves"?' Remus still didn't understand 'And besides, whoever you are, I don't think you look like him.'

After a lot of explanations they finally understood more or less who the mysterious guest was and what he was doing here (at least, as much as the guest himself understood). Dumbledore seemed to fully accept the story. Remus was more skeptical. At last they were ready to go to the meeting. Suddenly Sirius saw a house he had not really noticed before. It was the house he remembered Lily and James Potter living in. Now it was not a surprise that Remus was the Secret-Keeper. Another part of what had happened in this world became clear suddenly.

XXX

'It's you!' James was quite surprised to see Sirius enter the house in Godric's Hollow.

'You know him?' Remus asked.

'Not really. But he was at Reg's house when I talked to him today.'

'I told you you can tell him everything,' Regulus said.

'Who are you anyway?' James asked Sirius.

'I suppose the story can wait until we are all here,' Dumbledore said 'Sirius can explain everything at the meeting.'

'Sirius?' James asked 'As in Sirius Black?' then he turned to Reg 'What's going on here?' and finally to Sirius 'You are Sirius Black?' he wanted to ask some more questions, but he was interrupted by Sirius trying to give him an answer.

'A version of him from another universe,' he had finally managed to find the right words.

'What?'

'From a world where we were best friends,' he added.

'I was your friend?' James was shocked again 'What was I thinking?'

'Probably that it's fun to prank Snivellus together,' Sirius told him 'Or that my idea of how to help Moony deal with his _furry little problem_ was quite good. Or maybe -'

'What did you just say?' Remus gasped suddenly.

'Is something wrong?'

'Did you just say "furry little problem"?'

'Yeah, I guess I did,' Sirius answered 'So that's still the same here?'

'_How_ did you know?' Remus demanded.

'Prongs and I worked it out together. In our first year at Hogwarts.'

'You and _who_?' James asked. Sirius suddenly understood that, since the whole Animagus thing had been his idea, James and Peter might not have come up with it.

XXX

Sirius looked around the room the Order of the Phoenix had gathered in. Apart from Lily, James and Regulus there was noone who was supposed to be dead or not supposed to be there (unless you counted Snape. Sirius never quite believed he was really on Dumbledore's side now). That is, except for a short, plump man with something rather rat-like about his pointed nose. He looked quite different here, but to someone who had known him at school he seemed a lot more similar to Wormtail than the man Sirius had met in the Shrieking Shack had been. _How dare the little rat be here…_

'You!' Sirius had tried to control himself. He really had. But apparently it was impossible 'What the hell are you doing here?' he yelled at him.

'Stop it,' Lily told him 'What are you doing?'

'Lily, this little rat is the reason why you are DEAD!' Sirius roared. Everyone who had not heard the story yet stared at him, confused.

'W-what are you talking about?' Wormtail asked.

'You bloody well know what I'm talking about, Wormtail!' Sirius continued shouting 'I know who you really work for!'

'Stop it, will you?' James said loudly 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

With some help from Remus and Regulus he manaed to stop Sirius from attacking Peter. Sirius struggled against them for a moment, then he finally calmed down a bit.

'Look, I know what happened to you,' Reg told him 'But you can't assume it's the same here. I'm a different person here and so are you. Why can't Peter be different as well?'

Everybody was watching the scene, not understanding a word of what was being said.

'Sirius,' Dumbledore said 'I think you should tell us your story now, to avoid further confusion.'

Sirius was quite tired of telling the story over and over again and didn't really believe it would ever be possible to avoid the confusion, but he sighed, sat down and began to tell his story for the third time.


	4. The Boy Who Lived a Normal Life

**The Boy Who Lived a Normal Life**

Telling the story this time took Sirius much more time than it had the previous night, since there were more people there to ask him questions. The part that caused most confusion was, of course, the same part most people in his world were confused about: his greatest mistake and Peter's betrayal.

'So Peter was made their Secret-Keeper, but we let everybody believe it was me.'

'Great idea,' Remus commented 'Why didn't I come up with this?'

'You're probably lucky you didn't,' Sirius told him and glared at Peter again 'I wish I hadn't.'

'Why?' Peter asked shyly from his corner of the room 'Did someone find out and -?'

'Not just _someone_,' Sirius growled at him 'Voldemort! In fact you _told_ him about it! Now do you understand why I called you a spy?'

'You still shouldn't have behaved the way you did today,' James said. He still didn't seem to trust Sirius completely.

'Th-that's right,' Peter stuttered 'W- what do you think you're doing, appearing suddenly out of nowhere and calling me a spy?'

'I've appologised for this once and I don't have to do it again. Now, can I go on?'

Someone murmured a 'yes', a few people nodded and Sirius continued telling his story. He described what he had seen on that horrible day, when he arrived at the ruins of the Potters' house. He really coldn't blame Lily and James for being so shocked when they heard about their own death. He remembered how he himself had reacted to it and after all it was even more disturbing for them than it had been for him. Then he got to the part about Hagrid finding baby Harry in the ruins.

'Apparently Voldemort couldn't kill him. In fact it looked as if Harry had defeated Voldemort. If I wasn't so shocked at James and Lily's death -'

'But… what about Neville Longbottom?' somebody suddenly interrupted him.

'What about him?' Sirius asked. He didn't really know Neville Longbottom. He had seen him a couple of times when the boy had been only a baby and once, the previous day, at the Department of Mysteries back in his world. How was he supposed to know _what about him?_ What did Neville have to do with it anyway?

'What do you mean?'

'What happened to him?'

'There was a prophecy that said -'

'Oh my…' Lily was the first one to understand. Unfortunately she fainted before she could explain anything to the others.

'I think I know what happened,' Remus said as James tried to wake Lily up 'That prophecy… It didn't _have to_ mean Neville, did it?'

'No, I don't think it did,' Dumbledore said 'If Lily or James wanted to save Harry enough to die for him, then probably… yes… I believe it is possible…'

'So in that other world' James said 'Harry is the one who -'

'Don't get too excited about it, Potter,' Snape spoke up 'You don't live to see it anyway. Hmm… I think I'm beginning to like that world. Go on, Black…'

'Then shut up and let me talk, Snivellus…' Sirius said. Then he decided telling those people the story might be hard without knowing what had happened in their world 'But maybe someone could tell me first… what exactly you were all talking about?'

There was a moment of silence before Dumbledore began to explain.

'It seems that the same prophecy has been made in both our universes,' he said 'According to the prophecy a young wizard born in the last days of July would have the power allowing him to defeat Lord Voldemort. Some of you might be aware' he continued 'that there were in fact two boys the prophecy could have referred to.'

'Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom,' Sirius said. He was beginning to understand something, but he wasn't sure yet 'So it could have been any of them?'

'That is right,' the headmaster agreed 'In your world apparently Harry was the one. In ours it was Neville.'

This was quite incredible. Neville Longbottom as the saviour of the wizarding world. Sirius did not know him personally, but according to what Remus and some others had told him, Neville was not exactly the heroic sort of person. How could the clumsy, forgetful boy, whose Boggart was said to have turned into Snape, be The Boy Who Lived in this world?

'How…?' he tried to ask.

'Lily and James decided to go into hiding as soon as they found out Voldemort was after them. Remus kindly agreed to be their Secret-Keeper. But Voldemort managed to get at Frank and Alice Longbottom before they managed to hide properly. He killed them. But he was unable to do the same to their son.'

This was followed by an uncomfortable silence. Nobody really knew what to say. This was not a surprise. After all a tragedy and a miracle had happened almost at the same time. Twice. In two _very_ different worlds. As if there were some things that just _had to_ happen…

'So… um…' Tonks spoke uncertainly, breaking the silence 'Lily and James are dead and Harry defeated You-Know-Who… What happened then?'

This was not the end of the difficult subject. As soon as Sirius got to the day of his arrest, he felt furious at Peter again. He knew, of course that the man who was in this room with him, listening to the story was not the same person who had betrayed his friends and destroyed his life, but there are some situations when being reasonable just doesn't work.

'So does that answer your question, Peter?' he asked angrily.

'But…' Wormtail squeaked again, suddenly resambling the pathetic little man from the Shrieking Shack 'That's impossible… Why would I do such a thing?'

'Peter,' Lily said 'Nobody said _you_ would do it.'

'He did,' Peter pointed at Sirius.

'No, you idiot,' Sirius argued 'I said your _other self_ did it. Although the way you're acting right now -'

'Stop it!' Molly Weasley interrupted him 'You are being very immature. Now will you please apologise to each other and stop arguing?'

Very reluctantly, the two men rose from their seats and shook hands. Sirius noticed that all of Wormtail's fingers were where they ought to be.

'All right,' he said 'I'll try to control myself. I won't say anything bad about you _unless I know you deserve it._ But I hope you understand why I hate the _other_ you,' Peter nodded 'And since I don't think I like the other _me_ either,' Sirius added 'I'm sure there's nothing unfair about it.'

He sat own again and continued telling the story. The questions the members of the Order asked him helped him understand some more of what had happened differently in this universe. However, he still didn't see what could have caused all this.

But later that evening, as he and Reg headed back for his brother's house (which, he now knew, had indeed belonged to Uncle Alphard once), he suddenly had a thought. He hoped to be wrong, but it made too much sense. The differences between the two worlds might have seemed random at first, but now he was beginning to see a rather disturbing pattern…


	5. The First Reply

**The First Reply**

This disturbing thought had been appearing in his mind sometimes for the last fifteen years. He had always managed to ignore it, though. The only thing that had kept him sane had been the ability to push this thought aside and replace it with 'What the hell did I do to deserve _this_?'. But after visiting the Potters this seemed much more difficult than usual. How differently the things had happened in a world where he had not been there to spoil everything! Lily and James were alive. Harry didn't have to worry about Voldemort and mysterious prophecies, people didn't keep expecting him to save the world, he didn't have to be the hero and he was happy that way. They could just be a normal, happy family. Sirius knew he should be happy for them, but his thoughts kept wandering back to his world, where their counterparts had lost it all. And now he couldn't help thinking it was his fault. He had nearly managed to convince himself that some things had just had to happen, but now it was clear that some things had _not_ happened just because he had not been there. And that meant in his world the same things _had_ happened because -

Suddenly the door to the guest bedroom opened and Regulus came in.

'What's the matter?' he asked, noticing that something was wrong.

'Nothing, really,' Sirius told him, but he failed to pretend he wasn't nearly crying.

'Oh, come on. You can tell me.'

'I don't want to talk about it,' the truth was that he did, but he didn't want his brother to _hear_ about it.

After a long while, Regulus managed to persuade his brother to tell him what the problem was.

'Remember how I told you about my world, the night I came here?' Sirius asked

'Of course I do.'

'I-I said I was innocent…'

Reg didn't seem to know what to say.

'I said that things had just happened… that I hadn't done anything…'

'You didn't, did you?' Reg said 'You didn't lie to me,' it wasn't really a question. He seemed quite sure of it.

'Well, I believed it when I said it… But now I don't know… I don't know…'

'You don't think it was your fault, do you?'

'They're so happy without me, Reg! And they're _dead_ in my world, James and Lily are…'

'That doesn't mean-'

'Did I tell you who thought of the whole switch thing?' Sirius said furiously 'I DID! And then…'

'You couldn't have known -' Regulus interrupted.

'Don't try to comfort me! I don't deserve it! Not from you…'

'What do you mean?' they younger brother wanted to know 'Why not?'

'You're dead in my world, Reg, remember?'

The younger brother looked a bit uncomfortable, like he always did at the mention of his death, but he wouldn't give up.

'What does it have to do with anything?' he asked 'You said -'

'But our worlds are the almost same. There's only one difference: _me_!'

'What are you talking about?'

'Those things I saw when I fell through. They must have been bits of _his_ life, not mine. My other self's, I mean. And everything that's different is somehow connected with me. So what is the difference? _Me_!'

'But think about it,' Reg insisted 'It just doesn't make sense.'

'What do you mean?' Sirius asked. It made far _too much_ sense to _him_.

'Why do you think it's all your fault?' Regulus still didn't understand (or pretended he didn't) '_Why_ do you think it's all about _you_?'

'Well, look whose lives have changed most,' Sirius said again 'Mine, my brother's and my best friend's…'

'And the Longbottoms',' Regulus reminded him 'and probably -'

'Stop making sense at me!'

'I'm not making sense _at_ you.'

'Then just stop making sense! You're alive here, but in my world you aren't. You're the last person who should tell me I did nothing wrong.'

'But you -'

'I'm guilty of your death too…'

'Now, this is ridiculous,' Regulus told him 'You said we hadn't seen each other for _years_ before I died!'

But the older brother was prepared for this.

'But I know what you were like,' he said 'You've been writing letters to me all the time. And just before they killed you, you explained everything.'

'I did?' Regulus asked. This really was a bit awkward. Talking to someone who was apparently alive about his death…

'I never understood why you – the _other_ you – had to be so foolish and join the Death Eaters. Until I read that letter, that is.'

'What did he – I -?'

'You were desperate to please Mother,' Sirius explained '_"always needed someone to tell me I'm a good boy…",_ you wrote.'

'But how is that your fault?' Regulus didn't understand again.

'You were scared of her, Reg. Scared that she would treat you the way she treated me.'

'You think so?'

'I know it!' Sirius said and then he remembered something he had wanted to tell his brother for years 'I'm sorry, Reg,' he said 'Sorry I never replied to your letters. I just didn't knew what to write. Until the last one, but you were dead by the time I wrote the reply.'

'Sirius, I'm not really the one who wrote them,' Regulus protested.

'I still have to answer,' Sirius said 'My answer is "Hello. I'm sorry too. I forgive you if you forgive me. I hope whatever you did to make Voldemort want you dead was something _really_ big. And, yes, I am proud of you. I knew you could do it, _brother._"'

He knew Regulus probably had no idea what he was talking about, but he had to say it anyway. He had to say it for the _other_ Regulus, who, he now realised, had not really been a bad man.

'I'm not sure I understood all of it,' Reg said 'But I wish my other self could hear it. I think…'

'You think he'd forgive me if he did?'

'Yes, I think so,' Regulus told him 'There wasn't really much to forgive in the first place. So, are you done blaming yourself for every bad thing that ever happened?'

'You think Lily and James will forgive me too?'

Reg sighed.

'I think you didn't do anything wrong at all,' he said 'but if you insist. Of course they will, they are your _friends_.'

'Then I guess I'm done,' Sirius managed to smile.

'Good,' Regulus said 'You're right about one thing, though. Since we're so close to working out what that Veil really does, we really should look for some sort of pattern in how our worlds are different. But not right now,' he added just as Sirius was about to say something 'Let's talk about something else, okay?'

'Well, I need to know as much as I can about this world,' Sirius argued 'Maybe you could tell me some more after all.'

'Oh, all right,' Regulus agreed 'I guess I can tell you… about your kids or something…'

'All right then. So this youngest boy… what was his name again…?'

'Procyon? Oh, you would probably like him,' Regulus said, apparently relieved that Sirius hadn't insisted on talking about something more unpleasant 'You should meet him someday.'

'Yeah, I guess it could be fun. Imagine the look on his face when he finds out who I am,' Sirius finally managed to laugh.


	6. I Am Your Father

**I Am Your Father**

'Remember, when you were younger,' he heard Reg's voice from the hall one day in the beginning of the summer holidays 'how everyone would always say how much you take after your father?'

'Yeah,' a boy's voice answered 'And then I got sorted into Gryffindor, and now they _don't know how it's possible that I'm so different from him._'

Reg laughed.

'You're more like him than he wants to admit,' he told the boy.

'So what's that all about?' the boy asked 'It's not like it really matters to me. I don't really _want_ to be like him any more.'

'And why is that?'

'Really, Uncle Reg, I thought at least you were different!'

'There's no need to shout at me.'

'And I don't _want_ to be like my father!' the boy sounded angry 'And I'm not!'

Sirius opened the door of his room and looked out into the hall to see Regulus and a boy about thirteen years old. He knew immidiately, who the boy was. He had been quite amazed some time ago, when he had seen Harry for the first time in twelve years, because the boy had looked so much like his father. This, however, was even more amazing, because it was Sirius himself that the boy resambled.

'Are you sure?' he asked the boy 'I'd say you're a lot like him'

'And who are you?' the boy asked.

'Well, this is why I invited you here,' Reg told the boy 'I thought you might want to meet him…'

'All right, but who is he?' the boy insisted.

'It's him, isn't it?' Sirius whispered to his brother 'It's Procyon, right?'

'Yes,' Regulus whispered back.

'Are you going to tell me or not?' Procyon asked impatiently.

'Got his father's temper too,' Regulus commented, probably referring to the incident with Peter at the Order meeting.

'Hey! That wasn't nice!' Sirius argued.

'Sorry, Procyon.'

'So are you going to tell me, who -?'

'I am your father,' Sirius explained 'I mean…'

Regulus began to laugh. This hadn't come out right, had it?

'Look, there are many bad things I could say about my family,' Procyon said 'but _not_ that I don't know who my father is! I know more about my ancestors than I _want_ to know.'

'Yeah, I know, but I'm… sort of… how to explain this?… It's kind of like… I _am_ him… only I'm not…'

'What?'

'Or I could just say I'm your father's Gryffindor side.'

'I didn't know he had one.'

'No, wait… how to explain it to you…?'

'Why don't we sit down?' Regulus suggested 'It's going to be a long story.'

XXX

'No way!' Procyon said, staring at Sirius in disbelief 'That's impossible!'

'It's true,' Reg confirmed 'I've tried the Identity Spell and he is who he says he is.'

'But – how - ?' the boy stuttered.

'I'm probably not supposed to tell you too much,' Reg said 'But he just turned up in the Department of Mysteries. There's no other way he could have got in there.'

'But…' the boy was still staring at Sirius 'how come you're… erm…'

'So different from _him_?' he guessed 'That's what we're trying to find out. I'm not sure yet. But I can try telling the story again.'

XXX

'So,' said Sirius when the story was over 'I've told you my story, now could you tell me a bit about yourself?'

Procyon, who was now staring at him in amazement instead of shock, didn't seem to know what to say for a moment. He actually seemed quite impressed. Well, the strangest things can make an impression on thirteen-year-old boys…

'Um… I guess I could…' he finally said 'Er… I'm thirteen years old. I'm in Gryffindor,' he started giving random bits of information about himself.

'Wow,' Sirius said, trying to encourage him 'I was in Gryffindor too, you know?'

'If Father ever finds out about it…' Procyon snickered.

'That's what I said,' Regulus agreed, also laughing.

'Anyway,' the boy continued 'Before I went to Hogwarts, Father was always proud of me.'

'Let me guess. You got the loudest Howler in history just because you got sorted into the wrong house.'

'Yeah,' Procyon said 'Before that Father would always talk about how much like him I am, and now -'

'It turned out you take after the wrong side of him,' Regulus said helpfully.

'Apparently,' Procyon looked at Sirius again 'Father… uh… this feels weird…'

'You don't have to call me Father then,' the man replied 'Actually, it makes me feel weird too.'

'Then what -?'

'Um… I don't know… Padfoot?'

'I've wanted to ask you for a while now,' Regulus said 'Why _Padfoot_ anyway?'

'Well, that's a long story. But I think it has something to do with this,' suddenly a huge black dog was sitting on the chair instead of Sirius. The other man and the boy stared at him again.

'Wow…' Procyon said, as his almost-father returned to his usual form.

'All right, go on,' Sirius said.

'Well,' the boy began to talk again 'My parents were quite angry when they found out. And Cassie and Orion don't want to talk to me at school… But I don't really care any more,' he added.

'Your brother and sister?' Sirius guessed.

'Yeah. Orion can be okay sometimes, when his Slytherin friends are not around, but Cassiopia…'

'I see…'

'But it's okay, really,' Procyon repeated 'I don't care about them that much. I've got other friends.'

Sirius was suddenly reminded of himself as an eleven-year-old boy, when he had first realised, that he would never make up with Bellatrix after that fight on the Hogwarts Express. And ,of course, a few months later he had already had other friends, much better friends, and was beginning to learn about things _she_ would never understand.

'I actually became friends with _Neville Longbottom_ this year, you know,' the boy continued talking 'Denis's brother knows him, you see, and he invited us to join a sort of club… we were studying Defence Against the Dark Arts together and -'

This sounded familiar.

'So Dumbledore's Army still exists here…'

'You know about _that_?'

'Harry Potter told me… In my world he was the one who started it…'

'Well, he's in the DA too, of course,' Procyon said 'But anyway…' he was getting more and more excited. He got to the part about having to keep it secret from Professor Umbridge. His excitement sounded a little childish, but Sirius knew what it felt like to be doing something that was forbidden – but right.

The story of the DA was rather similar to what it had been in his own universe. It had been the idea of a group of fifth-years, who realised that a war was about to begin and Professor Umbridge was doing her best _not_ to teach them anything useful. As soon as the teacher found out, she had made up some new rules making the club illegal, but it hardly discouraged anyone. In fact, as far as Procyon was concerned, it only mad the whole thing more interesting.

XXX

The boy really was so much like him! He was proud of his son. But then he realised that with Procyon resambling him so much and the war beginning all over again, history might repeat itself. That certainly wouldn't be good. He would have to give him some advice one day to help him avoid making the mistakes he had made himself. But there would be time for it later...


	7. The Chosen Two

**The Chosen Two**

'Bye, Uncle Reg, goodbye… um… Padfoot,' Procyon still hadn't really got used to that. Well, they had only met for the first time today after all.

Sirius had rather enjoyed his short visit. By now he was almost used to the fact that his counterpart in this world was a stuck-up aristocratic pureblood and was beginning to find it quite funny that his son was more similar to the Gryffindor Sirius than anything. However, as soon as the boy had left the house, Sirius remembered that there was one more person he really needed to meet. Another boy who had been almost like a son to him for the last couple of years. Harry. This might have been rather unreasonable, as the Harry in this universe didn't know him and didn't really need to know him, but it didn't occur to Sirius at this point.

'Reg,' he said.

'Yes?' his brother turned to him.

'If the holidays have started now, Harry is back home too, isn't he?'

'I guess so. Why?'

'I need to talk to him,' Sirius announced.

'I don't think it's a good idea,' Regulus told him 'We've already let too many people know about you.'

'Well, what am I supposed to do,' Sirius argued 'lock myself away from the world for _another_ year?'

'No,' Regulus tried to clam him 'but we really can't let _everybody_ know who you are and where you came from.'

'Harry is not _everybody_.'

'But he doesn't need to know -'

'_I_ need him to know!' Sirius almost yelled at his brother.

'Well, I guess if you really have to…' Regulus said 'I'll warn James that you're coming.'

XXX

Sirius couldn't wait to meet Harry. He was told that Neville would also be spending the summer at the Potters' house. That sounded good too. He was looking forward to meeting both boys. But on the night before going to Godric's Hollow again he had a dream that almost made him forget all about it. _It was his childhood again. Random scenes from his childhood flashing in front of his eyes. And soon enough he was, once again on the Hogwarts Express… On the boat… In the Great Hall… The Sorting Hat fell over his eyes. He heard a voice, but didn't really understand the words… And then… 'SLYTHERIN!' the hat shouted. It's voice echoed in his head so loudly, that it woke him up._

He remembered seeing all those things before. He had not remembered the sorting, but everything else, he was sure he had seen, as he fell through that veil in the Department of Mysteries. And now he knew what he had seen. He had been right. Those really had to be scenes from the other Sirius's life. He was getting closer to finding out what exactly had happened here. Or more precisely, what had happened in his world, but _hadn't_ happened here. That is, if a tiny detail like this could change so much. And if those _really_ were his counterpart's memories. He would have to find out somehow.

'So do you think it was his life?' he asked Reg that morning at breakfast.

'Might be,' his brother answered 'Of course, we can't be sure.'

'Did those things really happen in this world?'

'Well, it was all a long time ago,' Regulus said 'I don't remember all of it, but it seems about right.'

'You know what's funny?'

'Hmm?' Reg said through a mouthful of his breakfast.

'The beginning of it looks exactly the same as my life.'

'What do you mean?'

'Everything,' Sirius explained 'Until one moment. I was on the train, going to Hogwarts for the first time. And I remember fighting with Bellatrix, but it didn't happen in the dream. You think that's it?'

'What do you mean "that's it"?'

'The difference,' Sirius said impatiently 'You think it happened _there_, but didn't happen _here_, and that's why -?'

'I don't know,' Regulus interrupted him 'I have no idea what happened the first time you were going to Hogwarts, it my world _or_ yours. I wasn't there.'

That was true. Regulus had not been there. He was two years younger than his brother and therefore couldn't have seen whatever had happened on Sirius's first day at Hogwarts. That was a problem. Sirius wondered who else he could ask about it. He tried desperately to remember who had been in his compartment on that day. Most of those people were, in both worlds, known or at least suspected to be Death Eaters! There was, however, one person who had seen it all that he could trust.

'I need to talk to Andromeda,' he said suddenly.

'What does she have to do with it?' Regulus didn't understand.

'She was there,' Sirius explained 'In that compartment. She knows what happened!'

'Sirius, we really can't tell everyone -'

'Do you want to know what's going on or not?'

'Well, of course I do,' Regulus said 'I've been working on this project for a while, and this is an opportunity…' he paused suddenly 'But you know… First Harry, now Andromeda… And we are not supposed to - '

Sirius suddenly remembered about Harry.

'Oh, I almost forgot! So maybe I'll meet Harry first, and go to visit Andromeda after that.'

'Just don't do anything stupid…' Regulus said 'er… any _more_ stupid things,' he corrected himself 'I think that's enough for one day.'

XXX

While Harry was, as he had been in the other world, the spitting image of his father, Neville seemed to take after his mother a lot.

Poor Alice, dead in one world, tortured into insanity in another. Sirius wasn't sure which was worse. Actually he suspected it was insanity. After all, he had thought he was already dead only a few weeks ago and it had been, at least compared with nearly being kissed by a Dementor, bearable.

James had already told the boys the most important parts of the story. Sirius followed Reg's advice and didn't insist on telling them much more, especially, since he was already quite tired of telling it. The boys did ask him questions, though.

'So in your world…' Neville stuttered 'M-my parents are alive?'

Sirius wasn't sure what to tell him. It would probably be horrible for the poor kid to find out the truth. He considered telling him part of it only, saying that Frank and Alice Longbottom were, indeed, alive in his universe. But, even though Neville was unlikely to ever find out what had happened to them, it somehow didn't seem fair.

'They are -' Sirius began.

'It must be wonderful,' Neville said before he could finish 'to live with them, to have normal life…'

'Almost normal,' Sirius corrected 'More normal than what you have here, I guess,' he knew from what Harry had told him back in his world what Neville's life must be like. Few things could happen to a teenage boy that were _less_ normal than that 'They… you still have to live with your Gran. They've been… er… attacked by Death Eaters. They're still in st. Mungo's.'

'What about me?' Harry asked excitedly 'Dad said I was the Chosen One in your world!'

'It's not as cool as it sounds, Harry,' Neville said 'You _know_ it isn't.'

'Oh…' Harry suddenly remembered the part about his parents being dead

'Neville is right, Harry,' Sirius agreed 'As far as I know, it means getting into a lot of trouble all the time, nearly being killed about once a year, lots of people who want to hang around with you, but few that you can really trust and, last but not least, a great responsibility. And, in your case, Harry, living with your crazy Muggle relatives.'

'That's about right,' Neville confirmed 'Except that my Gran is a witch, of course.'

'Why does my other self have to live with Aunt Petunia anyway?' Harry wanted to know.

'Well, your dad wanted me to take care of you if something happened to your parents, but… You know the story, don't you?'

The boys nodded.

As the conversation went on, Sirius began to feel sorry for Neville. He really wasn't cut out to be the great hero. Well, hardly anyone really is, but this boy seemed very much like his counterpart. He was the sort of person who would have preferred to stay out of trouble. But he couldn't. And Harry didn't exactly help him stay out of trouble. They had had many strange adventures, usually together, often along with Ron and Hermione, but in their fourth year Neville had had to deal with some of it all by himself (The Triwizard Tournment. Neville had tried to explain that he hadn't tried, he hadn't even _wanted_ to try to enter, but it was no use).

XXX

'Oh, and by the way,' James said as Sirius was about to leave 'Dumbledore wanted to talk to you. You should go see him as soon as you can.'

'You think this evening is soon enough?'

'Yeah, I guess so,' James replied.

'Good,' Sirius said 'Because I still have to talk someone before I go.'

And with that he set off for his cousin Andromeda's house.


	8. Don't Do Anything Stupid

"**Don't Do Anything Stupid"**

As he stood outside the door of his cousin's house, he realised he was beginning to feel a little nervous. What was he going to say anyway? According to Reg, Andromeda had not talked to him for ages and was probably one of those people who suspected that he was a Death Eater (or that his other self was. She didn't know about _him_, of course). Well, actually that situation was quite similar to the one in his own world. It wasn't a comforting thought, though. For a moment he panicked. But he couldn't back out now. If he did, Reg would never let him live it down. He knocked on the door. But it was not Andromeda, who opened it.

'Wotcher,' said Tonks 'Um… what are you doing here?'

'Hi, Tonks,' Sirius said 'I need to talk to Andromeda.'

'Oh. Mum's not home. She should be back soon. But I'm not sure it's a good idea…'

'Why?' he wanted to know.

'Um… you know…' Tonks began to explain 'she… doesn't seem to like your other self very much…'

'Can't blame her for that,' Sirius muttered.

'I don't think she'll want to talk to you.'

'I need to try,' he said 'It's important.'

'Well then, come in and wait for her… I guess…'

He went to take a set in the living room and disappeared in the kitchen for a while. About two minutes and several loud crashes later she reappeared with two cups of tea.

'So, what is it you want to talk to Mum about?' she asked as she sat down.

'Well, I'm still trying to figure out how I got here' he explained 'and why here of all the places.'

'And you think she knows?'

'Probably not, but she does know something that might help me. You see, I'm almost sure I know what happened, but I need to know more about what happened _here_. I need to ask he a few questions about the other me.'

'But what are you going to tell her?' Tonks asked 'About who you are and why you're coming here and asking her weird questions?'

'Well, I want to know the truth,' he answered 'so I guess I should tell her the truth as well.'

'No offence,' she said 'but I don't think she'll believe you. I mean, the story sounds like something _the Quibbler_ refused to publish because it was too weird.'

Suddenly they heard the sound of the door being opened.

'That must be Mum,' Tonks said.

'Well, now I'll _have to_ talk to her.'

'Hello, Nymphadora,' Andromeda said, as she entered the room. Tonks rolled her eyes, but apparently had already given up trying to persuade her mother not to call her that.

'Hi Mum,' she said.

'And who are you?' Andromeda noticed Sirius. The whole thing with people he knew not knowing who he was was getting really annoying.

'Erm…' Tonks was trying to find an explaination that wouldn't shock her mother. Sirius decided it was not necessary.

'It's a long story,' he said 'And I'm quite tired of telling it. And, as Dora pointed out, you probably won't believe it, but it's true.'

'What _are_ you talking about?'

'Oh, Andromeda!' he said, getting up quickly 'You're the only person who can help me now! You just have to tell me something… about my childhood and - '

'How am I supposed to know anything about your childhood?' the woman asked him 'I don't even know who you are.'

'Oh, right,' he said 'I didn't tell you did I?'

Just then Tonks spoke, before he could confuse Andromeda even more.

'Mum,' she said 'uh… You remember your cousin, Sirius…'

Andromeda stared at her, and then at him.

'Don't tell me - ' she said 'He's not - ?'

'Well, I… sort of am…' he said.

'My, have you changed since I last saw you,' said Andromeda 'You don't look good. And you actually want help from _me_? Who would have thought?'

'You misunderstand me,' he interrupted her 'I'm not - ' he began to explain 'I mean, I _am him_, but… how to explain it? I'm… um… _different_'

'Don't tell me you've _realised what a great mistake you were making_,' Andromeda told him 'I won't fall for this. I know you too well.'

'No…' he said 'I- I came from another world. One where I haven't made that mistake at all,' she stared at him in disbelief 'I might have made a lot of other mistakes, but not this one. I need to know why I made it _here_.'

XXX

Explaining things to Andromeda was, as he had expected very difficult, but she did finally give him an answer. It was the answer he had been afraid of. Apparently what he had seen was true. Apparently the memories had really belonged to the other Sirius. Apparently _he_ was the difference.

'_So, are you done blaming yourself for every bad thing that ever happened?'_ his brother's voice echoed in his head. He was grateful for that. It helped him stop being ridiculous and remember about another appointment. He had to talk to Dumbledore.

XXX

'Good evening, Professor Dumbledore,' he said as he entered the headmaster's office.

'Ah, good evening,' the Professor greeted him 'I have just been talking to my old friend, Horace Slughorn,' he said 'I believe you have met him.'

'His counterpart, yes,' Sirius replied, wondering what Slughorn had to do with anything 'Mad old Potions teacher who likes to form silly clubs and tell people they should have been in Slytherin.'

'Ah, yes,' the headmaster said 'I thought Horace would be the same in both our worlds. I couldn't really imagine him being any different. I have been trying to persuade him to return to the school, but unfortunately he refused.'

'Unfortunately…' Sirius said. He had never been too fond of Professor Slughorn 'So, what is it all about?' he asked 'I am a little tired…'

'I believe I have found a perfect place to hide you,' Dumbledore announced.

'What?' Sirius asked 'What do I need to hide from now?'

He didn't like the idea at all. He had been enjoying the freedom and wasn't going to give it up too easily.

'You know it, Professor,' he said 'I've had enough of hiding. And besides, nobody is after me at the moment, right? There is nothing I need to be hiding from.'

'This is where you are wrong,' the old professor said.

'What do you mean? I haven't even been in this world for a month.'

'I do not think it is a good idea to let people find out, though,' Dumbledore said 'It is for your own good, Sirius,' he explained 'And I have found a perfect place for you.'

This didn't sound good…

'If you just tell me what's going on,' Sirius argued 'I can take care of myself.'

After all even having to go back to that cave he had lived in for a while sounded better now then being locked up in Dumbledore's idea if a safe place again.

'You misunderstand me,' Dumbledore chuckled 'If you let me explain, I am sure you will like my idea.'

'Then could you please explain it?' The idea still didn't sound good, but Sirius wanted to know what it was.

'I don't think it is a good idea to let your counterpart find out about you,' Dumbledore said.

'So I'm supposed to pretend that I don't exist just because there is _one_ person who shouldn't see me?'

'I said nothing about pretending that you do not exist,' said Dumbledore 'In fact, I have been thinking of hiding you right where evrybody can see you.'

'How -?' for a moment Sirius wondered if Dumbledore had gone mad after all.

'You two look very much alike,' the headmaster told him 'But different enough to pass for two different people.'

It sounded completely insane. Sirius was suddenly reminded of an article he had read in _the Quibbler_ nearly a year ago. He stopped himself from laughing and wondered what the old wizard was up to.

'And, since Professor Slughorn has refused to accept the job at Hogwarts,' Dumbledore continued talking '_I wonder_ _if you know someone_ who might be able to teach Potions or Defence Against the Dark Arts this year.'

'Oh, I get it,' Sirius said, a wide grin spreading across his face, as he finally understood.

'Well then, what do you think?'

'I have always been good at both, but I think I like Defence better.'

The idea didn't sound so bad after all. It probably qualified as what Reg had referred to as 'doing something stupid', but apart from that it was a perfectly good idea.


	9. Mysteries and Secrets

**Mysteries and Secrets**

When Sirius arrived at Reg's house later that night, he was quite exhausted. The door was locked. Probably because Regulus was already asleep. _Alohomora_ probably wouldn't work, as a wizard's house is usually protected against wizards. He would have to wake Regulus up. He rang the doorbell a couple of times, but nothing happened. Sirius considered Apparating in, but he was so tired that, if he tried it, part of his body would end up in Hogsmeade and part on the North Pole. Or in yet another alternate universe. He looked around for an open window, but didn't find one. Finally he picked up a rock and threw it at the window of his bedroom. There was a sound of breaking glass and a moment later Sirius managed to climb inside. Then he heard a sudden noise somewhere in the house. Apparently Reg was awake now. Sirius pointed his wand at the pieces of glass on the floor and then raised it to point at the window. The footsteps were getting closer.

'_Reparo,_' he muttered and the glass flew back into its place, just before the door to the room opened.

'Oh, it's you,' Regulus lowered his wand.

'Yeah,' Sirius said and yawned.

'Why did you -?' Regulus tried to ask.

'I fixed it, didn't I?' Sirius said. He was too tired to argue about the broken window right now.

'But why -?'

'Door was locked.'

'You could have used the doorbell or something…'

'I tried,' Sirius assured.

'What have you been doing so long anyway?'

'Can we talk about it in the morning?'

XXX

Finally the morning came, and so did Reg's question.

'So what happened?' he asked 'I bet you've been doing something stupid.'

'I don't know,' Sirius said 'Does freaking Andromeda out with a story that sounds like something the Quibbler refused to publish because it was too weird and getting a job at Hogwarts count as doing something stupid?'

'Probably,' Regulus said weakly 'At Hogwarts?' he repeated suddenly, spilling his coffe.

'Dumbledore needed a new Defence teacher,' Sirius explained 'That's why it took me so long. I had to go talk to him.'

'And he hired _you_?' Regulus was quite shocked 'But- but - '

'I'll probably need a fake name or something,' Sirius said calmly, as if he considered hiding at Hogwarts under a fake name something perfectly normal (which it actually might have been, compared to flying around the world on a stolen Hipogriff) 'And, by the way,' he added 'it was Dumbledore's idea.'

'One of the craziest he's had lately,' Reg muttered and then he asked 'Would you like to do something that makes sense for a change?'

'And what would that be?'

'We were supposed to work on _your case_ a bit at the Department of Mysteries. If you could come with me…'

XXX

'Mr. Black, are you sure what you saw was your counterpart's life?'

They were in the room with the veil again, Sirius, Regulus and two Unspeakables.

'Quite sure, yes,' he said 'I have discussed it with my cousin… Andromeda Tonks,' he added when he realised the Unspeakable was about to ask a stupid question. Why the hell couldn't those people remember that Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't his only cousin? 'She says it all really has happened here, so I assume it must be right.'

One of the Unspeakables wrote something down in his notebook.

'Told you it was a good idea, Reg,' Sirius told his brother.

He was happy. This universe wasn't so bad after all. He was free. Lily and James were alive. He had a brother who was neither evil, nor stupid, nor dead. He had a job. And, last but not least, he would eventually have a way to get back home.

XXX

Dumbledore stood up and the Great Hall went silent… as silent as it ever went. Most of students stopped talking and looked up at the teachers' table.

'I would like to make some announcements,' the headmaster said loudly 'First of all - '

He wa interrupted by the sudden appearance of a large, glowing, silvery thing. It ran into the Great Hall making everybody stare and stopped at the teachers' table. Now Sirius could see that it looked rather like a wolf. Except, of course, that wolves are slightly smaller. And they don't _glow_. And they don't usually run into the Hogwarts Great Hall in the middle of the start-of-term feast. _Werewolves _don't do these things either. Especially the glowing.

He realised, of course, that it must be a Patronus, but it still didn't explain anything (Except why it was glowing, maybe). Sure, somebody had sent it because something unusual had happened outside. But _what_ had happened? And whose Patronus took the form of a _werewolf_?

'Shall I go and see what is wrong, Headmaster?' asked Snape from the other end of the table.

'No, I'll go,' Sirius said standing up.

'I was hoping to introduce you to the students,' Dumbledore said.

'It can wait,' Sirius wasn't going to let Snape do it instead of him. He left the Hall, as the Patronus disappeared.

Sirius ran down to the gate and was quite surprised to see the two people standing on the other side.

'Hello, Tonks,' he said 'Harry, what are you doing here?'

'I… um… err…' Harry wasn't sure what to say.

'I found him on the train,' Tonks said 'Apparently Draco Malfoy petrified him.'

'Well, I guess Harry can come to the castle with me now,' Sirius said.

'Yeah, I guess,' Tonks replied 'Bye, Harry!'

'Bye, Tonks,' Harry said 'Thanks for everything.'

'See you later,' Sirius said as they started walking back to the school 'Interesting Patronus, by the way. Does it mean what I think it means?'

Tonks blushed.

'So what exactly happened to you?' Sirius asked Harry as they walked towards the castle together.

'Nothing, really,' Harry said quietly. He didn't seem to want to talk about it.

'Right,' Sirius said 'I know you, Harry… well, your counterpart, but you're a lot like him… and I know you wouldn't lie on the floor, petrified and covered in blood because of _nothing, really_.'

'Blood?'

'Here, let me clean it up for you,' Sirius took out his wand 'So what happened?' heasked again, once Harry's face was clean 'Come on, you can tell me.'

'Malfoy's up to something,' Harry said suddenly 'I wanted to know what. Neville told me not to do it, but I didn't listen. He should be grateful, actually, I did it for him. He _needs_ to know about it if Malfoy's a Death Eater.'

'What makes you think he is?' Sirius interrupted him. Joining the Death Eaters did sound like something Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy's son would do, but surely not at such an early age?

'Well, I saw him at Madam Malkins one day, and he wouldn't let her touch his arm,' Harry said 'And then I saw him go into Borgin and Burke's and threaten Borgin. I know he's up to something.'

It didn't sound good. But maybe Harry was jumping to conclusions a little too fast.

'Neville saw it too. He was with me.' Harry added.

'What exactly did you do?' Sirius asked.

'Whan Ron and Hermione came into our compartment and said Malfoy was acting strange, I knew there was something wrong. And then Zabini walked past. I'd seen him before in Malfoy's compartment, so I took my Invisibility Cloak and followed him.'

'And Malfoy discovered you and did this to you?'

'Yeah,' Harry confirmed 'He's up to something, I know it.'

Boy-Who-Lived or not, Harry was still trying to be a hero all the time. And getting in a lot of trouble.

'I see. I'll keep an eye on him,' Sirius assured.

'Thanks,' Harry said 'But what are you doing here anyway?'

'You'll see,' Sirius replied, and then, after a short pause he added 'Try to be more careful, all right?'

'What?' Harry didn't understand.

'Don't get yourself and others in trouble.'

'_Don't get in trouble_,' Harry repeated 'And this coming from a guy who broke half the rules and didn't get caught and then ended up in jail for breaking the _other_ half…'

'From a guy who knows trouble isn't as fun as it looks from outside.'

As they entered the Great Hall, the students stared at them as if they sill weren't used to unusual things happening at the school. Harry ran to the Gryffindor table, looking as if he wished he was invisible. Sirius walked back to the teachers' table.

'Ah, finally,' Dumbledore said. He stood up and waited for the excited students to stop talking.

'I can finally make the last announcement,' he said 'We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff. Professor Schwarz will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts this year.'

The students applauded. Sirius was happy to notice that he had made a good first impression. The only person was Snape, who was known to have wanted the job for himself and just glared at 'Professor Schwarz'. Well, Snivellus would always be Snivellus and nothing could be done about it.


	10. The HalfBat Prat

**The Half-Bat Prat**

Sirius's first class was with the fifth-year Ravenclaws. He told them about some counter-curses and let them practise for about half of the lesson. They seemed to enjoy it. The next group, the fifth-year Slytherins arrived early.when the Ravenclaws were leaving the classroom, they were already waiting outside. Sirius immidiately noticed a dark-haired girl, who looked familiar even though he had never seen her before. She made noticing her quite easy.

'Hey, Loony!' she called 'I see you haven't found your Crumble-Corn Snortfuck yet?'

A group of Slytherins laughed.the Ravenclaw girl, however didn't find it funny at all. It was the girl who had asked Sirius when he would teach them about Wrackspurts (whatever they were).

'They are called _Crumple-Horned Snorcacks_,' she said seriously 'And _I_ am not called Loony.'

The Slytherins laughed again, but the Ravenclaw, whose name, Sirius now recalled, was Luna Lovegood, was already walking away. The Defence teacher walked out of the classroom and the Slytherins' laughter died away quickly.

'Why did you do it, Miss…?' he asked, pretending that he didn't know who the girl was.

'My name is Black, Professor,' she introduced herself 'Cassiopia Black,' The way she said her name made it clear she was proud of it. Sirius thought if someone has to be proud of their _name_ it probably means they don't have anything else to be proud of. The way she said it generally made it clear what kind of person she was. She could be _polite_ in a rude way. Sirius wasn't impressed. He was used to this sort of tricks. All of his family had always been good at them.

'Well then,' he decided to use the same technique on her 'Is there any reason why you did it, Miss Black?'

'Yes, sir, there is,' she said.

'Would you care to tell me what it is?'

'I don't think it is any of your business, Professor.'

'As you wish,' he said 'Five points from Slytherin.'

So this was his daughter. He didn't think he liked her. He knew she didn't like him. By the end of the lesson he was forced to give her another reason to dislike him. She asked for it. She was the worst at Defence against the Dark Arts in the whole class. _And proud of it!_

XXX

While Cassiopia was ignorant and proud of her ignorance, Orion turned out at least to be good at the subject (and proud of his talent, of course). He managed a non-verbal shield charm at the third attempt (Not a particularly strong one, but still). The only problem was that he spent most of the lesson discussing something with Draco Malfoy. Sirius overheard a very interesting conversation.

'Why should I tell you?' Malfoy asked in a whisper.

'And why should i help you if I don't know what this _mission_ of yours is?' Orion argued.

'It's a secret,' Malfoy whispered 'I _can't_ tell you!'

'Then I can't _help_ you,' Orion said.

'Oh, come on!' Malfoy was getting annoyed 'Is it really that hard to -?'

'I am not Crabbe or Goyle,' Orion hissed angrily 'I'm not gonna do everything you tell me to do just because you told me!'

'I'll pay you?' Malfoy tried.

'I know that you won't, so why don't you try and ask someone stupid?' Orion said so loudly that Sirius was forced to interrupt the discussion.

'Malfoy! Black!' he said. It felt strange 'Please stop talking or your house will lose points.'

Well, technically there was nothing wrong with Orion talking to Malfoy. He was his second cousin and a fellow Slytherin sixth-year after all. Nothing unusual at all. But he was also, in a way, Sirius's son. Harry's words echoed in Sirius's head: _'Malfoy is up to something, I know he is!'. _Sirius couldn't help thinking it really didn't sound good. Well, at least whatever Malfoy wanted, Orion had refused. But it still wasn't good. Malfoy's head of house would have to know about it. The problem was Malfoy's head of house happened to be Snape.

XXX

He knocked on the door to the Potions Master's office.

'Come in,'a voice answered.

Sirius pushed the door open. Snape looked up at him.

'No, actually, _don't_ come in,' he changed his mind.

This Snape didn't really hate Sirius as much as the Snape in his universe had, but the level of hate had grown considerably when Dumbledore chose to hire Sirius as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

'It's not funny, Snape,' Sirius said 'It's important.'

'Oh, is it?' Snape appeared to think that whatever it was, it lost all its importance because Sirius was the one saying it.

'Yes, it is,' Sirius repeated '_Very_ important.' He entered the room and closed the door before Snape could kick him out 'You have to talk to Draco Malfoy. Find out what he's up to and tell him not to do it.'

'What _are_ you talking about?' Snape asked.

'Harry Potter told me he thought Malfoy was up to something really bad -'

'And, of course, you believe _every word_ the boy says just because you used to hang around with his father's counterpart?'

'No. Shut up and listen, will you?'

'No, I will not,' Snape said 'This is ridiculous. You are wasting my time.'

Snape pretended not to notice Sirius. He didn't give up, though.

'Of course,' he continued 'I thought Harry was jumping to conclusions too fast - '

'He does that a lot, doesn't he?' Snape commented, more to himself than to anyone else.

'But then I heard him talking in class - '

'Apparently you aren't a very good teacher, if students are so uninerested in your classes…'

Snape was known to be able to keep a class perfectly quiet (except for the occasional exploding cauldron), not by being interesting, but because the students were usually scared to make a sound in his presence.

'Trying to convince another student' Sirius chose to ignore Snape's comment. The only other thing he could have done would be very painful for the Potions teacher 'to help him. He wouldn't say what - '

'I am quite sure' Sanpe interrupted 'that Malfoy is not doing anything worse than talking in your classes. If you cannot deal with that, I don't know what you are doing here.'

It was apparently impossible to have a sensible conversation with Severus Snape.

XXX

One evening somebody knocked on Sirius's office door.

'Come in,' he said and a moment latr he saw Procyon enter the room.

'Oh, it's you,' he said 'Hi. Everything all right?'

'Sure,' the boy answered 'It's the second week of term and I still haven't got any Howlers. And we're doing interesting stuff with the DA… Quite a few people left this year. Harry even thought of stopping it all, but Neville decided to keep it going anyway.'

'Great. You need to learn as much as you can in a time like this.'

'And I've been thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team,' Procyon continued 'I know Orion wants to play for the Slytherins. That could be fun…'

'I guess it could,' Sirius laughed…

Procyon sounded quite happy, but Sirius knew something wasn't right. There was a moment of silence and then…

'Padfoot,' Procyon said.

'What's the matter?'

'I think I understand why my father hates me,' the boy announced 'It's because I'm too much like him,' he said 'I'm exactly like him, except _one little thing_ happened differently in my life.'

'I thought that was me?' Sirius said.

'Well, yeah…' Procyon agreed 'But me too. It's like Uncle Reg said: I take after the wrong side of him. I'm what he could have been. And he just thinks it's scary, that he was so close to being like me… like you…'

'You might be right,' Sirius agreed 'I think it's scary myself sometimes.'

'I'll tell him that!' Procyon said 'I'll tell him: _'Father, you only hate me because I'm so much like you. You don't like to think you could have been like me. You think you hate _me_, but it's just yourself you're mad at'_!'

'Procyon,' Sirius tried to calm the boy down 'I'd rather you didn't tell him… Not yet, anyway. He mustn't find out about me, you see? And he might if you say it.'

Sirius was good at telling people to think twice before they do something, butknew he would have done the same in Procyon's situation. But he had decided some time ago that he would do his best to prevent his son making his old mistakes.

'Oh…' Procyon was a bit disappointed.

'I have to give you some advice, Procyon,' Sirius said 'It might sound like all the stupid things parents tell their children, but trust me, you'll be grateful someday.'

The boy looked at him and, surprisingly, listened.

'I know from experience,' Sirius continued 'that doing stupid things is… is… a very stupid thing to do…' Procyon gave a small laugh 'So think before you do something stupid. And don't _ever_ try to improve a plan that is already perfect, all right? It never works.'

Procyon listened carefully thinking about something hard. Probably trying to match the pieces of advice to the mistaks he knew Sirius had made.

'If you need something done properly, do it yourself. Don't trust other people to do it for you, especially people who appear to look up to you. _Never_ trust people who look up to you too much.'

Sirius wished someone had given him advice like that. He wouldn't have listened, of course, but he still wished someone had warned him.

Procyon didn't really seem to understand all of it. He didn't believe in history repeating itself. After all children are always wiser than their parents (until they start making the same mistakes), disasters are something that only happens to other people (until they start happening to you, that is) and everybody is immortal (until you die, of course). And nobody knows these things better than a rebellious teenager.

Suddenly there was another knock on the door and a second later it opened to reveal Snape. Snape looked around and noticed Procyon.

'You know what time it is, Black?' he asked 'Off to the Gryffindor tower with you, or I'll give you detention.'

The boy groaned (That old bat always has to ruin everything!) and left the room.


	11. They All Have Dark Secrets

**They All Have Dark Secrets**

'Talked to Malfoy?' Sirius greeted Snape with a question.

'Indeed, I have,' the Potions Master replied 'And I assure you that he is not doing anything wrong.'

'Yeah, well, if you just asked him what he was up to, no wonder he didn't tell you.'

'In case you forgot, Black,' Snape said quietly 'I happen to be a _spy_. If I didn't know how to be subtle, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.'

'I know what I heard,' Sirius insisted.

'I would have thought you of al the people would want to avoid accusing others of things they have not done… Or does it only matter when it's about you?'

'Get-out-of-my-office-Snivellus!'

'As you wish,' Snape replied calmly 'But I thought you might want to hear about another student who _does_ seem to behave strangely…'

'Who is it?' Sirius asked as Snape opened the door. It was closed again and a very nasty sort of smile appeared on the Potions Master's face.

'Ah,' he said 'I thought it might interest you…'

'_Who is it?_' Sirius repeated his question.

The Potions Master's grin became, if possible, even nastier.

'I believe it is your oldest son,' he said.

'My - ?'

'I thought you were aware of the fact that you have three children?'

And with that the Potions Master left before sirius could ask any more questions.

But he had heard it himself. Draco Malfoy had been trying to talk Orion into doing something stupid, but he had refused… Unless Orion had actually agreed to do it later. Or maybe Snape was just making it up to annoy him.

XXX

"_Stanley Shunpike, conductor on the popular wizarding conveyance the Knight Bus, has been arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity…"_

If Fudge had been an idiot, Sirius wondered what to call Scrimgeour. Arresting random people just to make it look like the Ministry is doing its job. But then, what had he expected? Justice? After he had learnt in the most painful way possible, that the Ministry of Magic did not know the meaning of this word? No, he didn't think the Minister was _evil_. He just _knew_ he was a _politician_. And he wasn't sure which was worse.

And why Stan of all the people? Sirius couldn't say he knew Stan, but he had met him. Back in his world, of course, but how different could this one be? He had travelled on the Knight Bus as a dog once the previous year. He remembered that the young conductor had been _very_ scared of anything related to the Dark side. And besides, he justseemed to bea very nice young man. He liked dogs.

XXX

The lesson was over and all the fifth-year Ravenclaws were leaving the classroom. Except for one. Luna Lovegood packed her things very slowly and, as the last of her classmates left, she approached the teachers desk.

'Anything wrong, Miss Lovegood?' Sirius asked 'You did very well today.'

'Yes, I thought I did,' she replied 'But… um…'

'What's Lovegood doing in there so long?' a voice came form outside the door.

A second voice said something more quietly.

'Schwarz?' the first voice exclaimed 'Really, Cass, he's old enough to be her father… Eww…'

'Well, it's Loony Lovegood we're talking about. She's loony.'

'I think people outside are wondering where you are, Miss Lovegood,' Sirius said 'And you can't be late for your next class.'

'Right, Professor,' she said 'I guess we can talk later.'

XXX

And she did come later. She came to his office that evening.

'Hello, Miss Lovegood,' he said 'What is it you wanted to talk about?'

'Hello, Professor Schwarz,' Luna replied 'or whoever you really are…'

'Err… What?' he said staring at her in confusion.

'It's not your real name, is it?' she said.

'What makes you think so?' Sirius was beginning to get nervous. What did the girl know? How had she found out? And who else knew it?

'Somehow I just knew you had something to hide…' Luna said.

'What makes you think I'm hididng something?' Sirius still didn't understand.

'Well, you are a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,' she said simply 'They all have dark secrets.'

'They do?' he was beginning to find her rather scary.

'Well,' the girl said 'Professor Lockhart hadn't really done any of those things he wrote that he did, Professor Lupin was a werewolf, Professor Moody wasn't Professor Moody at all…'

'And what Professor Umbridge is was never really a secret,' he finished her sentence 'Yes,' he said slowly 'I think I can see the pattern.'

'Who are you then?' she insisted.

'You know I can't tell you,' he said.

'I knew it,' she said. She looked into his eyes. It was kind of scary. It wasn't the intense stare of a Legilimens trying to read his mind. It was the look of someone who didn't need Legilimency to know what he was thinking. The look of someone, who already knew something and was only making sure now.

'Will you tell me?' she asked.

XXX

Having heard the story, Luna sighed with relief.

'I was afraid you might have been sent by You-Know-Who… or the Ministry…'

Sirius stared at her. The only thing he understood was why she considered the Ministry almost as bad as Voldemort.

'You thought I'm a Death Eater or something,' he said in shock 'and you still came here just to make sure?'

'Yes,' she answered.

'It could have been very dangerous! Why did you do it?'

'I would do a lot for my friends,' Luna explained 'If you wanted to hurt Neville, he'd better know about it.'

'For your friends, eh?' he said and then smiled at her 'I would have done the same,' he admitted 'And knowing my luck, regretted it for the rest of my life.'

'I don't regret it,' the girl assured him.

'But weren't you scared?' he asked.

'I was,' she replied 'because I didn't know what to expect.'

'Why aren't you a Gryffindor?' Sirius wondered (After all, noble as it was, what Luna had done was not a very Ravenclaw-like thing to do).

'I don't know,' she answered 'Maybe you should ask the Sorting Hat?'

'Just don't tell anyone what you found out,' he told her as she headed for the door 'Neville already knows and nobody else needs to know.'

'All right, Mr. Black. And thank you.'

Luna left the room. Sirius could hear her talk to someone outside. So she hadn't come alone. Wise of her. Wiser than he had thought. He just hoped he wasn't telling them anything important.


	12. Talking to Himself

**Talking to Himself**

Another evening and another knock on the door.

'Come in,' Sirius said looking up from some third-year Hufflepuffs' essays.

The door opened and a man entered the office. He looked disturbingly similar to Sirius himself. Of course, his hair was shorter and his face looked much healthier, almost younger, but Sirius knew immidiately who it was.

'Good evening, _Professor Schwarz,_' the man said.

'Good evening.'

'My name is Sirius Black.' _Aha! So he was right._

'How can I help you, Mr. Black?' Sirius desperately tried to keep his answers calm and casual, but it is really difficult when facing yourself and seeing someone you are not.

'I have come to discuss the progress my son, Procyon is making…' the Slytherin-Sirius said.

_Oh, had he?_

'Procyon is one of the best students in his year,' the Gryffindor replied 'It's Cassie you should be worrying about. If she wants to pass her O.W.L.s - '

'_Cassiopia_,' the Slytherin said in an annoyingly aristocratic sort of way 'is a _lady_. Defence against the Dark Arts is a manly subject. She does not need to be good at it.'

_A _lady_, is she? Doesn't behave like one at school…_

'In a war,' Sirius wouldn't give up 'even a _lady_ needs to know how to defend herself. Otherwise pretty soon there wouldn't _be_ any ladies left.'

_Oh Merlin, that sounded like Moody. Constant vigiliance and all that…_

'_What_ are you talking about?' the father said in the same 'rudely polite' tone his daughter liked to use when talking to people she was supposed to respect, but didn't.

'The painful reality, what else?'

'Cassiopia is going to be just fine. She will be safe.'

'_Mr. Black_, you _do_ know what war is. She is not going to be safe,' Sirius couldn't resist making that comment 'no matter whose side she is on.'

'_What_ are you implying, Professor?'

'Only that I have noticed your opinion about _certain things_ is quite different from mine,' Sirius replied.

'Quite different, indeed,' the Slytherin repeated '_Surprisingly _different… Who would have thought…'

And with that he left the room.

The Gryffindor sat there for a few seconds, staring at the door, unsure wether his guest had been real or merely a figment of his imagination. Finally he decided that his Slytherin self had really been there a minute ago. And then he remembered what he had said. And he realised that it _wasn't_ good. He had to tell Dumbledore.

XXX

But Dumbledore was not in his office. He was apparently not at the school at all and nobody seemed to know where he had gone. Sirius returned to his room and decided to talk to Regulus instead.

XXX

'Hey, Reg!' he called through the fireplace as his brother entered the living room.

'Hi,' Regulus said 'What's up?'

'We need to talk,' Sirius said 'Now. He was here,' he began to explain 'At Hogwarts, I mean. He knows who I _am_. He said he'd come to talk about - '

'Calm down, Sirius,' Regulus interrupted him 'What – _Who_ are you talking about?'

'The _other me_,' Sirius replied 'He was here.'

'Wait a moment, will you?' Reg said 'I'll be right there.'

Sirius pulled his head out of the fireplace and waited. A few minutes later Reg appeared in the room.

'All right,' he said 'What's going on?'

'_He_ was _here_,' Sirius repeated for what felt like the one hundred and first time 'I think he knows who I am.'

'Are you sure?' the younger brother _finally_ understood 'How would he know?'

'No idea. He said he wanted to talk about the kids, but - '

'Well, parents do that sometimes. You can't be sure - '

'His excuse was stupid.'

Somebody knocked on the door again.

'You think it's him again?'

'I don't know. Why would he - ?'

The door opened. Procyon poked his head into the room.

'Padfoot,' he said and then looked around 'Oh, hi, Uncle Reg.'

'Come in,' Sirius invited.

'It's not some secret stuff or something?'

Sirius remembered how back at home he would always argue with Molly and Dumbledore about what Harry could and could not be told. _'He is too young for this,'_ Mrs. Weasley's voice said in his head. About _Harry_, who was three years older than Procyon. Sirius thought it was just fine.

'Well, kind of,' he said before reg could stop him 'but it's _your_ secret too.'

'Really?' Procyon sounded excited. Kids like secrets and this must have sounded like an interesting one.

'Well…' Regulus didn't seem to want to tell him. Sirius did, though.

'Your father was here,' he said.

'You mean - ?'

'Yes, him,' Sirius replied before the boy could ask.

'What did he want?'

'Apparently he came to check what progress his children were making,' Regulus said.

'But the truth is,' Sirius added 'that he wanted to talk to _me_.'

'You mean… You think he knows who you are?' Procyon asked and then he suddenly remembered something 'Does it mean I can tell him - ?'

'Not yet, if you don't mind,' Sirius cut him off 'But, yes, I think he knows more than he should know…'

'But who could have told him?' Regulus wondered 'How did he find out?'

'No idea.'

'Who knows about you?' Regulus asked 'Apart from him, that is.'

'I only told people I trusted,' Sirius said (Had _someone he trusted betrayed him?_) 'The Order, Harry, Neville, Andromeda…'

'Anyone else?'

'Maybe Cassie or Orion worked it out?' Procyon suggested.

'No, I don't think they did,' Sirius said (And then heremembered Snape saying that Orion had been behaving strangely).

Then he suddenly remembered something else.

'That girl…' he muttered 'The Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood…'

'Luna?' Procyon said in disbelief.

'She came here a few days ago,' Sirius explained 'Almost worked everything out herself. Then she managed to make me tell her what she didn't know.'

'But Luna?' Procyon said 'She would never… she wouldn't… I know her, she's in the DA…'

'I heard her talk to someone when she left…'

'You think it was _him?_' Regulus asked.

'No. I'm sure it wasn't. Sounded like a student. I don't know what she told him, but maybe - '

'But Luna wouldn't - ' Procyon muttered.

'I once thought Wormtail wouldn't,' Sirius said darkly 'And you know where that got me.'

'Let's not jump to conclusions,' Reg said 'We don't know who did it.'

'Luna's friends with Neville,' Procyon pointed out as if it explained anything.

'If it _is_ her,' Reg said 'It's _really_ bad.'

XXX

'So, what's up?' Sirius asked when Reg had already left and the discussion was over.

'Not much,' Procyon replied. Compared to _this_ everything sounded like _not much _'I didn't get on the team,' the boy said 'They picked Ginny Weasley instead.'

'Oh…'

'Well, she _is_ good,' Procyon said 'We'll probably win again.'

'But you wanted to play against Orion, right?'

'Well, it would have been fun.'

They spent the rest of the evening talking about Quidditch, but Sirius just couldn't forget all the other things that were bothering him. What was Malfoy up to? Was Orion helping him? How much did his counterpart know? _How_ did he know? Where was Dumbledore when you needed him? And generally _what the hell was going on here?_


	13. Halloween Is Always Scary

**Halloween Is Always Scary**

There were many things bothering Sirius during the next few days, but there wasn't much he could do. He told Dumbledore everything of course, but the Headmaster seemed to have too many other things on his mind already.

'Ah, yes,' he said when Sirius told him about Malfoy 'Neville had already told me. I do nt think Draco can do anyone much harm though.'

'Neville?'

'Yes. I have been… helping him prepare to fight Voldemort.'

This still sounded strange. Neville Longbottom, the Boy Who Lived…

'And another thing,' Sirius said 'My other self…'

'Have you learnt something about him that shocked you?' the headmaster asked, sounding slightly worried, but not much.

'No,' Sirius replied '_He_ has learnt something about _me_. He's found out!'

'Oh, has he?' Dumbledore wasn't as worried as Sirius had expected 'What did he do?'

'He came here, Professor. To talk to me. It seemed like he was… trying to find my weak points to use them against me or something…'

'That can indeed be very dangerous,' the headmaster agreed 'Especially if your counterpart is in league with Voldemort. But we do not have any evidence to prove that.'

'So now you're telling me not to worry?' Sirius was angry and disappointed.

'Worrying is not going to help you,' the old wizard replied calmly.

XXX

The most annoying thing about Dumbledore is his nasty habit of being right. There was no way worrying could solve any problems. Sirius finally gave up and on Halloween he tried to enjoy his day at Hogsmeade. It was an unpleasantly cold day, but apart from thatit seemed nice enough. After all walking around Hogsmeade in human form for the first time in so many years just had to be a good thing, didn't it? Sirius walked up to the Shrieking Shack, thinking about all the fun he had had there with the Marauders, and then he considered visiting Zonko's, not really to buy anything, but simply because he hadn't been there for such a long time. Unfortunately, the shop turned out to be closed and unlikely to open anytime soon. And it probably didn't have much to do with the fact that Fred and George Weasley's shop in London was better.

Halloween had never seemed particularly frightening to him before, but now, as another war was beginning (in both universes!), Sirius started to think of it as the night when his world's Lily and James had died rather than the fun holiday when people dressed up as weird things and did funny things to pumpkins.

But before his mind could wander too far, he heard somebody talking. A moment later he saw the Creevy brothers and Procyon walking up the street. Denis said something to Procyon, who quickly tried to hide behind Colin. Sirius saw him anyway, but pretended he didn't.

'Hello, Professor,' the Creevy brothers said together.

'Hello.'

'I was just showing Denis around,' Colin said 'First Hogsmeade trip, you see…'

'Not the best time for it, unfrotunately,' Sirius said (He suspected it was not really Denis's first visit to Hogsmeade, but that didn't really matter).

'It's still great,' Denis said, excited.

'By the way, Procyon, I can see you.'

The three boys looked rather embarassed. Apparently Procyon was not supposed to be there.

'Um…' Procyon said

'I would like a word with you,' Sirius looked up at Colin and Denis 'Alone, if you don't mind.'

'See you later then,' Procyon told his friends as they set off for the Three Broomsticks.

'You're not supposed to be here, are you?' Sirius asked.

'Err…'

'I'll have to take off some points for that,' Sirius said and then he laughed 'I wouldn't have remembered if you didn't try to hide,' he said

'Oh…'

'I fooled McGonagal once, you know,' Sirius added 'My parents didn't sign my form in third year, so I used the secret passage - '

'The one to Honeydukes?' the boy asked.

'Yeah. You used it too, didn't you?'

'Umm… yeah… Denis and I found it last year…' Procyon said 'Isn't it unfair,' he added after a moment 'Father wouldn't let me go just because I _dared_ disagree with him once! He can be worse than Grandmother's portrait sometimes…' then he looked up at Sirius and remembered who he was talking to 'Er… No offence, Padfoot…'

'Right… I still have to take off some points, sorry,' Sirius said 'It's nothing personal,' he joked.

'Hang on!' Procyon suddenly had an idea 'Couldn't you…? I mean, you sort of are - '

'Not officially,' Sirius reminded him 'We don't want people to know.'

The boy graoned.

'All right,' Sirius said 'We can go to the Three Broomsticks for a while, but then, I'm afraid I'll have to take you back to the castle.'

XXX

But as they were reaching the Three Broomsticks, something unexpected happened. Two seventh-year girls were just leaving the pub, talking and, apparently, disagreeing about something. The 'something' appeared to be a package that Katie Bell was holding in her hand. Sirius didn't hear what they were saying, but then Leanne tried to grab the package and Katie wouldn't let her. Suddenly, as it fell to the ground, Katie rose into the air with her arms outstreached. Then the girl began to scream in terrible pain, as if she was being tortured at least with a particularly powerful Cruciatus curse. Her friend was terrified. She seized Katie's ankles to stop her flying away, but was unable to put her back on the ground. Harry, Ron and Hermione, who had been walking behind the girls, ran forward and grabbed Katie's legs as well. By the time Sirius and Procyon reached them, she was back on the ground, still screaming and writhing.

With the boys' help Sirius managed to hold her steadily enough to prevent her hurting herself any more.

'I'm going to need help to get her to the hospital wing,' he said loudly through the girl's screaming.

'What happened to her?' Procyon wanted to know.

'It's that _thing!_' Leanne said, pointing at the package, which was now lying on the ground, torn to reveal what appeared to be an opal necklace 'I think she - '

'Somebody get help,' Sirius said again and Harry and Procyon ran in two different directions, in search of someone who could help get Katie back to the school.

'Now what exactly happened?' Hermione asked Leanne.

'It's the necklace…' Leanne said through tears 'The package tore and then - '

Just then Harry, who had ran toward Hogwarts, returned along with Hagrid.

'Lemme see her,' the enormous man shouted.

'Good to see you,' Sirius said with relief 'We need to get her to Hogwarts - '

'I'll do it,' Hagrid said simply. He picked the screaming girl up and headed quickly for the castle.

'Don't anybody touch it,' Sirius warned, as Ron bent down and reached for the necklace 'It's cursed,' he explained.

Leanne was still crying and beginning to shake uncontrolably, looking almost as if she had been cursed as well.

'How did Katie get hold of this?' Harry asked her.

'She had it when she came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks. Said she had to deliver it to someone at Hogwarts… She looked funny when she said it…' Leanne said 'Oh no!' she gasped suddenly 'I bet she's been Imperiused… '

Hermione patted her on the shoulder as the older girl began to sob again.

'She didn't say who'd given it to her?' Hary asked.

'No… She wouldn't tell me…' the girl continued sobbing and muttering something about their argument.

'Let's get back to the school,' Hermione said finally 'We'll be able to find out how she is. Come on…'

Harry took off his scarf and tried to pick up the necklace through it.

'I'll do it, Harry,' Sirius said 'Can't let more students get hurt.'

The boy handed him the scarf and he wrapped the necklace in it very carefully. As they walked up to the castle, Harry talked about his usual Malfoy-did-it theory. At some points it didn't make much sense, but nobody had a better one.

'Hagrid says you saw what happened to Katie Bell,' McGonagall greeted them at the entranceto the castle.

'It's true, Minerva,' Sirius replied 'Apparently she touched this.'

'It will have to be examined then,' she said 'And I must talk to these students,' she added 'Well, what happened?'


	14. The Voices Told Me To Do It!

**The Voices Told Me To Do It **

Soon the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin was approaching and the best that could be said about Katie Bell's state was that she had stopped screaming. Sirius thought Procyon might get a chance to play against his brother after all, but the boy didn't even ask Harry (who was Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team) to let him play. He would have felt bad about taking Katie's place, especially since he had seen what happened to her.

On the day of the match the stands around the Quidditch pitch were filled with people wearing red and green. Sirius, wearing a Gryffindor scarf, was standing in the part reserved for the teachers. He could hear the voices of the excited crowd and the roar of what turned out to be a lion head attached to Luna Lovegood's hat. The players entered the pitch, the captains shook hands and the game began.

'Well, there they go,' said the commentator, a blond Hufflepuff named Smith 'and I think we're all surprised to see the team Potter's put together this year…'

Sirius was much more surprised to see something else, though. Why was Orion playing Beater? According to Procyon he had always been interested in being a Chaser. But then, if _that_ was what Snape had meant by strange behaviour, it was a good thing. There was nothing to worry about.

The commentator said something about Ron Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper and at the same time a Slytherin Chaser headed for the goalposts. Ron had always had problems with stressful situations like that, but somehow he managed to save it. It was going to be a good game…

XXX

'And I think Harper of Slytherin has seen the Snitch!' Smith announced 'Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!'

Harry and Harper raced upwards toward a small shiny object in the sky.

'Well, apparently Potter noticed it too now. Harper is still closer to it, though. Potter might have a better broom, but - '

But Harry actually did distract the Slytherin Seeker and catch the Snitch. Gryffindor won.

It wasn't really important now, though. At least not as important as the large black ball flying straight at Sirius at a great speed.

'But what's that?' Smith exclaimed suddenly 'What's Black doing with that Bludger? The match is over! Oh… And why did he - ?'

Something hit Sirius on the head. Hard.

XXX

'What are you doing here Black?' the muffled voice was the first thing he heard 'You're the one who did this to him!'

'Leave me alone, Weasel!' a second voice answered 'I told you I didn't mean to do it.'

Sirius opened his eyes to see that he was in the hospital wing. He also saw a large group of students standing near the entrance of the room and arguing. For a moment he wondered how it was possible that Madam Pomfrey had let them in, but he stopped because it gave him a headache. Ron Weasley and Orion Black were calling each other rather nasty names, outside the door their sisters had started a fight. Blaise Zabini had joined in to protect Cassie, which caused Harry to do the same for Ginny. Neville was trying to make them stop fighting, so both sides attacked him.

'No fighting in the hospital wing!' called Madam Pomfrey 'I have enough work without having to heal your bruises.'

She made her way through the crowd into the room.

'Oh, you're awake,' she said.

'I guess so,' Sirius replied 'What happened?'

'You were hit by a Bludger at the match,' she explained 'Very dangerous game, Quidditch…'

'He did this, Professor!' said Ron, pointing at Orion 'He hit the Bludger at you.'

'You're an idiot, Weasel,' Orion said 'I didn't do it on purpose!'

'Right,' Harry said 'You just _accidentally_ hit the Bludger at the audience so hard it nearly killed Professor Schwarz'

'Apparently it didn't kill anyone,' Cassie pointed out.

'Well, it could have,' Ginny replied 'I've never seen anyone hit one so hard… not in a match at school at least.'

'You're both idiots,' Cassie said. Right now she didn't resemble the well-behaved young lady she was when she spoke to a teacher at all 'You have even less brains than money. Really, I don't know which one of you, Weasels is more stupid, but - '

'I think it's Longbottom,' Zabini said.

'I said _Weasels_,' the girl replied although his answer did seem to amuse her.

'Well, he and Potter are practically honorary Weasels.'

'_Dis-_honorary,' Orion corrected, causing the Slytherins to laugh 'I mean, Weasels and honour?'

'Shut up about my family, Black!' Ron said angrily 'I don't even want to know where you got all the money you're always boasting about.'

'Ooh, nice comeback, Weasley! How long did it take you to come up with it?'

'I think Granger looked it up in a book for him.'

'No fighting,' Madam Pomfrey reminded them 'If you want to fight, _get out of here_!'

XXX

When they were left alone, Orion looked around nervously, as though he thought he might find the right words for whatever he wanted to say written on a wall.

'I- I'm really sorry, sir,' he said, his voice shaking slightly. Then he looked around again, as if he thought someone might be listening 'I didn't mean to hurt you,' he said more quietly.

A few rather rude questions came into Sirius's head, such as _'Who _did_ you mean to hurt then?'_ and _'Does that mean you wanted to _kill_ me?' _Instead he only asked

'Why did you do it then?'

'I-I don't know,' Orion said. Sirius remembered what Snape had said some time ago about the boy's strange behaviour… Had he been –

'I just felt like I had to do it, sir,' the boy kept talking 'Like someone was telling me to do it and I just couldn't say no…'

- Imperiused?

'I just managed at the last moment. So I didn't hit as hard as it wanted me to…'

'Someone wanted you to kill me?'

'Not you…' the boy muttered. Then he apparently wanted to say something, but didn't.

'Who?'

No reply.

'So a little voice in your head told you to kill someone with a Bludger?'

'You don't believe me, do you?' Orion asked, looking as if he was about to cry 'I really didn't mean to do it. Hell, I didn't mean to try out for Beater in the first place!' he paused for a moment 'I know it sounds stupid, but someone else was telling me to do it.'

'I believe you, Orion,' Sirius interrupted him 'It looks like someone put the Imperius Curse on you.'

'But who?' Orion asked in shock.

'You mean you don't know?' Sirius asked

'Um… no… I don't…' Orion muttered.

Well, of course, whoever had done it wouldn't have wanted people to find out.

'I mean, Draco wanted me to do things for him and I refused,' the boy added 'But he wouldn't… he _couldn't_ - '

'I know,' Sirius said 'It's very powerful Dark Magic. I don't think Draco Malfoy would be able to do it.'

'Professor Schwarz…' Orion said 'I'm sorry… I know it's possible to fight the Curse… and I didn't…'

'Not everybody can. And you didn't know what was going on,' Sirius didn't blame the kid. But if he ever finds out who had used the Curse… And why…?

'You said it wasn't me you were aiming at,' he said.

'Mhm…' Orion muttered shyly.

'Who was it?'

The boy looked around nervously again and then he replied in a very quiet whisper.

'D-Dumbledore…' he said.

This was quite a shock, but it made sense. The headmaster had been standing near Sirius after all. As soon as he regained his ability to talk, he said

'You should go and tell him about it.'

'But,' Orion whispered 'how do I do that? I can't exactly walk into his office and tell him I'd been aiming at _him_!'

'Of course you can't,' Sirius replied 'You have to tell him the_ truth_. Which shouldn't be a problem, since it's better for you.'

'But will he believe me? Will he forgive me?

'I've forgiven you. And Dumbledore is _much _better at forgiving than I am.'


	15. Choices

_I think something went wrong. The chapters got all mixed up.Sorry about that. I'm trying to correct it. Tell me if something's still wrong. Or if you've got a better title for this chapter. Or if you've got anything interestingto tell me. Or if you don't. Or if you just like the story. Or even if you don't...Review. I like reviews, you know..._

**Choices (Can't think of a better title. Help!)**

After a few days Sirius was out of the hospital wing and ready to get back to work. In all his classes students still whispered excitedly, swapping rumours about the incident at the match and occasionally asking him really strange questions. The worst was, of course, the lesson with the sixth-years. It was _impossible_ to talk about curses and counter-curses when all the class wanted to talk about was the incident.

'How come Black wasn't expelled for that?' Ron Weasley asked causing the Slytherins to glare at him.

'Because…' he began to answer.

'Why does he keep saying he didn't mean to do it?' Dean Thomas interrupted 'We all saw - '

'Orion Black,' Sirius said loudly over the noise in the classroom 'is no more guilty than the Bludger that hit me. He was under the Imperius Curse.'

'But who - ?' Hermione Granger asked in shock.

Harry Potter muttered something about Malfoy, but was interrupted by a 'But Harry! How could he possibly - ?' and then the discussion became too chaotic to describe. Suddenly the door opened and in came… the other Sirius.

'Good afternoon,' he said looking around as the last whispers died down.

'What are you doing here, sir?' the teacher asked.

'I have come to take my children home,' the father announced.

'_Right now_?' Sirius asked.

'It is quite urgent.'

'In the middle of a lesson?'

'Doesn't look like anyone is learning much anyway,' the Slytherin dropped his aristocratic politeness and it was clearly visible how angry he was.

'Mr. Black, I know what happened to your son, but - '

'Come on, Orion, We need to go.'

'What are you going to do anyway?' Sirius asked 'Where will you… I mean, Hogwarts is the safest place - '

'Clearly that old fool, Dumbledore can't keep it safe any more.'

Harry stood up suddenly and tried to join the discussion.

'Don't talk about Dumbledore that way!' he shouted 'He's doing what he can to - '

'Stop it, Harry,' Neville Longbottom forced him back into his seat 'We don't need any more trouble.'

'Indeed, you don't, Longbottom,' the Slytherin-Sirius agreed 'But somehow you can't stop looking for it, can you? And the same goes to you, by the way,' he added to his Gryffindor counterpart.

'Class dismissed, I guess,' the teacher said to the students and then, when most of them had already left, he turned to the unexpected guest 'Now, what are you talking about?' he asked.

'I've heard things about you, you know?' the man replied 'Dumbledore is clearly going mad if he gave _you_ the job.'

Just as Sirius was about to say something very rude, the door of the classroom opened suddenly and the younger two of the Black children fell in, looking rather confused.

'It's all your fault, you little - !' Cassie hissed at Procyon as they got up.

'Oh… hello, Professor,' she then said, looking up at the teacher.

'Cassiopia! Procyon!' their father shouted 'Have you been listening?'

'I haven't, Father,' Cassie said trying to be polite again.

'Yeah, right,' Procyon muttered.

'We'll talk about it at home,' their father said 'Now, come on, it's time to go.'

'I don't want to!' Procyon protested.

'It's for your own good, you ungrateful little - '

'How's not learning anything supposed to be good for me?' the boy asked.

'Since when do _you_ care?' Cassie asked him.

'_I _will teach you now,' the Slytherin-Sirius told his children 'Things _I_ consider important.'

'Father,' said Orion, who had not said anything yet. Then he made a long pause, not sure what to say and how to say it. Right now he reminded Sirius very much of Regulus at that age. He did what people expected of him. He was a good son and a typical Slytherin. But he had not yet made his decision. He knew he had to make one soon, but was afraid of it.

"_I'm doing it again!"_ Sirius thought. He had been told many times that he should not think of kids as younger versions of grownups they somehow resambled (especially that Harry was not James), but it gets really difficult when everyone is suddenly twelve years older than they should be…

'I… don't think - ' Orion said 'I mean… I'm not sure I want to learn the… _things you consider important_ any more…'

There was a silence.

'I mean,' Orion said a little more quietly 'After this happened… I could have killed someone!'

Slytherin-Sirius looked at the bandages his Gryffindor counterpart was still wearing on his head, and then at his older son.

'Does that mean you're staying?' he asked.

'I- I guess so…'

'Anyone else?' the father asked, glaring at the other two.

'You know I never wanted to come,' Procyon replied.

'It's all your fault!' Slytherin-Sirius yelled at the Gryffindor 'What have you told them?... Never mind… Just emember, they are _my _children, no matter who you think you are!'

'Sure they are, but they're also people. They should be allowed to make their own choices,' the Gryffindor said with an encouraging smile to Orion.

'STAY AWAY FROM THEM!' the Slytherin roared.

'So that's what you really want, is it?' Sirius said 'I see… ' he looked at Procyon and added 'I understand why you don't like me. I don't like _you_ for the same reason. But you won't even admit it…'

The Slytherin left the classroom, slamming the door behind him. Cassiopia ran after him and the two boys stared at the Gryffindor in confusion.

'What happened?' Orion asked finally.

'I guess we're not going home,' Procyon replied, sounding a lot more cheerful than his brother.

'Why was he so angry? Why…? What…? Who…?'

'Your father and I have… quite a lot in common,' Sirius explained 'But we made some very different choices in life… And you were right, Procyon. It annoys him even more than me.'

* * *

_Ha! It worked:D_

_II(:_


	16. Marauding, Ministry and Monsters

_Hello! Is anyone reading this? Come on, I should be studying for my exams now, but I still found some time to write another chapter (And, finally, a longer one!). Please, tell me what you think :)_

_II(:_

**Marauding, Ministry and Monsters**

'Am I the first one here?' Sirius asked as he stepped out of the fireplace in Godric's Hollow. The room was quite empty.

'No,' Lily replied 'Remus is already here. Why?'

'Well, that's the Marauders reunited then,' he said with a smile 'Great.'

'What?' she didn't seem to understand.

'The Marauders,' he repeated 'That's what we used to call ourselves, back at Hogwarts. The four of us… Only Wormtail doesn't really count now…'

'I really don't see what you have against Peter,' Lily said 'I know what happened in your world, that is, but apparently he is a different man here!'

'Of course he is, Lily. But it's hard to get used to it. I try to trust him, but I just _can't_ trust him as much as I once did… Oh, never mind…' he said and set off to look for his two friends.

XXX

There were more important things, he knew. The recent events at Hogwarts. Two attacks, one on a student and one on himself. His counterpart finding out a lot too much. Orion getting Imperiused. Why hadn't anyone noticed that _something was wrong?_ But then Sirius remembered that sonebody had noticed. Snape. And he had not done anything about it! So maybe getting back on Snape was important after all… And who better to help him do it than Moony and Prongs?

But when he told them about it, their answer was quite a nasty shock.

'I don't know, Padfoot,' Remus said 'Maybe he really didn't know about Orion.'

'He did,' Sirius reminded him 'He told me he'd been _acting strange_.'

'Well then, maybe he meant to tell you more, but - '

'It's Snivellus we're talking about,' James interrupted him 'I wouldn't put it past him to _forget_ things like that on purpose.'

'That's what I thought,' Sirius agreed.

'But,' James continued 'I still don't think he deserves anything too - '

'Whose side are you on, Prongs?'

'The right one,' Remus said 'You really shouldn't hurt Snape.'

'He hurt me,' Sirius reminded 'If I knew about the curse, maybe I could have done something before Orion hit me with that Bludger!'

'I didn't say you mustn't do _anything_ to him,' Remus said 'I just think it will be much better revange if you just make him look funny in front of other people.'

These words reminded Sirius of something Remus's counterpart had told him. An amusing little anecdote from his year as a teacher at Hogwarts. Sirius had always wished he could have seen it. Now, he realised, it was actually possible.

'Moony,' he said 'You are a genius.'

Suddenly the door opened and in walked Regulus.

'What's up?' he said.

'Oh, we were just planning something…' Sirius said 'We've had a really fun idea.'

'The three of you?' Reg asked 'That sounds scary!'

'Oh, don't worry, Reggie! It's not you we're plotting against!'

XXX

But when the Order meeting began, there was no more time for jokes and laughter. Professor Dumbledore spoke in a calm but very serious voice.

'No place is perfectly safe any more, not even Hogwarts,' he said 'There have been two attacks inside the school, one on a student and one on a teacher,' he glanced at Sirius 'I have been informed that the attack was in fact meant for myself. It seems,' he concluded 'that Voldemort is becoming more ruthless than he ever was before.'

Many people gasped in shock. Some at the sound of the Dark Lord's name and some at the thought of an attack aimed at Albus Dumbledore himself. The headmaster had always been the only person Lord Voldemort was afraid of. If he dared do that now, was there anything at all that could stop him?

'Is there anything we can do?' somebody asked.

'We have already done a lot,' Dumbledore said 'We have finally made the Ministry see the light. Many changes have been made…'

'And exactly _how_ is Scrimgeour better than Fudge?'

'Well, Rufus, unlike Cornellius admits that Lord Voldemort has returned. He tries to make sure people can still feel as safe as it is possible in the current situation.'

'And what does he _do_ about it?' Sirius asked 'Arrest people like the Shunpike kid, without any evidence? _Somehow_ it doesn't make me feel any safer!'

'This is qiute understandalble, Sirius,' Dumbledore agreed 'Especially with your… experience… And I agree with you, of course. The only problem is that Rufus seems to believe people will panic if they find out the Ministry has made a mistake.'

'They'd have to spend _too much_ time panicking.'

Dumbledore chuckled 'Indeed,' he said 'Rufus seems very afraid of people finding out that he is only human. And he is, of course. A _frightened_ human and, therefore, even more likely to make mistakes.'

'In other words – an idiot.'

'He is trying to do his best,' Dumbledore defended the minister 'Unfortunately, he won't admit that his best is not good enough. He is facing a powerful enemy… We all are…'

This statement was followed by a long, tense silence.

'I have reasons to believe,' Dumbledore then continued 'That Lord Voldemort is as close to immortality as it is possible for a human being.'

Some more gasps.

'He has cheated death once and may be able to do it again…'

'I've always wondered _how_ - ' James muttered.

'I have no idea,' Remus whispered back 'But it must be something very powerful and very dark.'

'You think he's made… _a Horcrux_?' Regulus asked, horrified.

'It is very likely,' Dumbledore replied 'That he has in fact made more than just _one_ Horcrux'

Still more terrified gasps.

'A memory an old friend has showed me seems to suggest he might have intended to make _seven_.'

'It's a very magical number…' Lily whispered 'does it mean - '

'As far as I know, he has never succeeded in making the last one. And some of them have already been destroyed. However, he is still vey powerful, nearly immortal and has all sorts of dangerous weapons.'

'Is it true he uses Inferi?'

'Prob'ly,' Mundungus Fletcher said 'I heard one guy in Knockturn Alley say he'd _seen_ one! And then, there's all the rumours about the giants…'

'And the vampires…'

'And the werewolves,' Snape said, looking at Remus with a nasty sort of grin.

The Marauders and Lily glared back at Snape. How dare he say it and look at Remus like that! Remus, however, seemed the least offended of them all.

'_I_ certainly have no intention to go over to the Dark Side,' he assured 'and I don't see why any so-called Dark Creature would want to serve someone who doesn't even consider them human, but I do realise that Greyback is not a very reasonable person,' he paused, thinking about something carefully, and then, in a shaky voice, he added 'Shall I… go and spy on him?'

The rest of the Order stared at him in shock.

'I am a werewolf,' he said 'Greyback's cub, as he would call me. I can pretend to join his pack and find out what they are up to,' he explained 'Thank you, Severus.'

_Thank you!_

'But Remus!' Tonks said.

'Someone's got to do it,' he said 'And I am the only one who _can_.'

'You can't' the girl nearly screamed.

'I _have to_.'

'But I… I'm worried about you,' she insisted.

'I know you are, but you know you shouldn't be,' he said 'Some people would probably say I _belong_ there.'

'People who don't know you.'

'Had some little things happened differently in my life, I'd be running with them now,' he said 'I'm a Dark Creature, Tonks…'

At these words Sirius got up from his seat.

'Yeah,' he said 'Well, you know how different_ I_ could have been. It _happened_ here! What does that make me?' he asked.

'Oh…' Remus said 'Sorry about that… I didn't mean - '

'Nothing to be sorry about. Just stop being stupid.'

'I still have to do it,' Remus said firmly. It was impossible to stop him.

'Well, even if you do, you don't have to be stupid,' Sirius said. He looked around at Tonks and added 'And promise you won't let them hurt you.'

XXX

After the meeting, as the members of the Order began to leave Godric's Hollow, Reg told Sirius about the progress the Unspeakables were making with the Veil. Sirius didn't listen too carefully. He watched Tonks and Remus at the other end of the room. The girl was begging the man to be careful, or, better yet, to change his mind about the whole werewolf mission, but he wouldn't back out.

_All Snape's fault_, Sirius thought. _He will pay for this!_


	17. The Potions Disaster

_I'm back! _

_Thanks for all the reviews._

_VG Jekyll - I don't think Sirius is **very** paranoid. He is a little more careful than usual, though and he listens carefully for any hints. And there **have** been a few hints, I think..._

_Reader4ever - Nice to see someone actually likes the kids :)_

_I'll try to update faster, but sometimes I don't have time._

_II(:_

**The Potions Disaster**

Sneaking around the castle at night, careful not to make a sound, Sirius felt as if he was fifteen years old again. It was a wonderful feeling. He had missed it (well, maybe not exactly _trying not to be seen or heard_. He'd had more than enough of _that_ recently…). He tried to imagine Snape's face the next morning. Then he walked down another flight of stairs and turned into a dark corridor. He knew he was close. Snape didn't like light. For a moment Sirius thought that maybe Snape had only made the werewolf comment because he resented the vampire one. He imagined his enemy with a pair of large vampire fangs. He realised that he knew a potion that could have a very amusing effect if he put it in Snape's toothpaste (_if he even uses toothpaste, that is_) and wished he'd thought of that before.

Finally he reached the door of the Potions Master's room. He pushed it open very carefully and looked around. Surprisingly, the room looked _almost_ comfortable. There were lots of books on shelves, some papers, quills and a bottle of ink on the table, an armchari in front of the fireplace (even though the fire had long ago gone out, which Snape didn't seem to mind) and, since it was Christmas Eve, a small heap of presents near the bed (one of the packages contained a bottle of shampoo large enough to last until _next_ christmas). The room would have looked very pleasant indeed if, if it wasn't for the collection of dead animals in jars on the only shelf that didn't have any books on it. Well, there wasn't much time for looking at those anyway. Sirius walked across the room to the wardrobe in the corner, opened it carefully and proceeded to transfigure the plain black robes inside. A green dress with a lot of lace… a Batman costiume… a frilly pink dress… and, because it was Christmas after all, a red Santa Claus outfit. He looked proudly at his work. If he was a student, McGonagal would give hin ten out of ten for good transfiguration and a detention for using it on his colleue's clothes in the middle of the night.

He wondered for a moment which outfit Snape was going to choose the next morning, before turning to the papers on the table. He picked up a clean sheet and folded it a couple of times. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember how to make an origami bird. A simple paper airoplane would have to do. He put it down on the table and transfigured into a stuffed vulture (_Thanks, Moony, you're a genious_, he thought). Now, just attatch it to that hat over there…

Something moved! Sirius turned around quickly. Snape had rolled over in his bed and opened one eye.

'Who's there?' he asked, thankfully he was still half-asleep.

'Um… Just good old Santa,' Sirius assured him 'Now go back to sleep, Little Sevvie if you want to get your presents…'

'Right, Daddy,' Snape muttered.

'You don't believe in me, do you?' Sirius pretended to be very offended 'Well, never mind, just go back to sleep. I still have a few thousend other children to visit tonight.'

The plan was too crazy to work, but somehow it worked. After a moment the vulture was sitthing on top of the hat and Sirius looked around for something else to play with. He picked up an old Potions book from the table and looked inside. This was perfect! A little childish perhaps, but still perfect. Written inside the cover of the book were the words:

_This book is the property of the Halfblood Prince._

Sirius knew why Snape had called himself that. The Potions Master was not, as he usually claimed, a pureblood, but the son of a pureblood witch and a Muggle. His mother, Eileen Prince, had been Sirius's mother's friend once, until Eileen decided to marry a Muggle named Tobias Snape. After that, if Mrs. Black hadn't been so mad at Sirius for being a Gryffindor, she would probably have been proud of him for hating Eileen's son.

_The Halfblood Prince… Perfect… Well, almost…_

Before Sirius left, the words 'Halfblood Prince' were magically changed into 'Half-Brained Prat'.

XXX

The next morning Sirius got up early, because he couldn't wait to see Snape coming to breakfast wearing some of the transfigured clothes and claiming to have seen Santa Claus at night. As he walked down to the Great Hall, somebody bumped into him suddenly.

'Umm… sorry,' muttered Neville Longbottom, looking rather embarassed. Behind him Harry Potter looked a bit confused.

'Hello,' he said 'Have you seen Romilda Vane? We're looking for her.'

'I don't think so, Harry,' Sirius said 'Hasn't she gone home for the holidays?'

'Neville says she hasn't,' Harry said and then he turned to his friend 'Why did you lie to me?' he asked 'Why - ?'

'Shh… We'll find her,' Neville assured him 'I didn't… I mean… err… We just will, all right?'

Then he turned to Sirius, making sure Harry couldn't see his face.

'Help!' he mouthed.

'What's the matter?' Sirius asked. He could se that Harry was behaving rather oddly and it seemed to have something to do with Romilda Vane, but that was all he understood.

'Love potion…' Neville muttered.

'What?'

'I got some Chocolate Cauldrons for Christmas… And Harry ate them… I think that's why - '

'I'm going to look for her, Neville,' Harry said.

'No, wait! We'll go together,' Neville replied quickly.

'Snape should have an antidote,' Sirius whispered back to Neville.

'He won't help us,' Neville said 'I think he's in a bad mood… er… worse than usual, I mean…'

_Must be the prank…_

'Yeah,' Harry added 'And he says he's seen Santa, but not Romilda.'

Sirius tried not to laugh too hard.

'I'll talk to him,' he promised 'He's got to help you.'

XXX

As Snape finally got to the Great Hall, Sirius noticed that he had managed to remove most of the lace from the green dress and make it look _almost_ like normal robes (except not exactly normal for him, because they were still green). He had chosen not to wear a hat today. He seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual.Talking to him now would be hard. But Sirius had to try.

'I've just talked to Harry and Neville,' he said.

'Why should that be any of my business?' Snape asked.

'They've been complaining,' Sirius told him 'Well, Neville was…' then he decided to get straight to the point 'Why didn't you give Harry an antidote?'

'An antidote to what? He seemed in perfect health to me.'

'Right… And drooling over Romilda Vane…'

'It is true that Miss Vane is not the most attractive girl I've ever seen, but Potter's choice of love interests is none of my - '

'_He. Has. Taken. A. love. Potion. By . Mistake!_'

'That's rather foolish of him, isn't it?'

Sirius gave up and started wondering where he could get the ingredients for the potion.

XXX

Making Snape angry right now had been a mistake.

Making he antidote for Harry was not difficult, but Sirius had been forced to go all the way to Hogsmeade to get the ingredients Snape wouldn't give him and spend half a day looking for a shop that wasn't closed on Christmas.

After receiving the potion Harry and Neville had explained a bit more about the incident. Apparently Romilda Vane had sent Neville a box of chocolates for Christmas and it had somehow got mixed up with Harry's presents. Harry had already eaten a few chocolates when they turned out to have a love potion inside…

It had been quite a busy day and Sirius was already a little tired. He was in his room trying to relax when he heard knocking on the window. He looked up to see an owl with a letter. But they usually came in the morning. Why couldn't this one wait a few hours? This couldn't possibly mean anything good…

Sirius opened the window to let the bird in and took the piece of parchment from it. He recognised Procyon's untidy handwriting.

_Padfoot-_

_I'm afraid Father won't let us come back to Hogwarts after Christmas! Mother still says Cassie and I need to pass our OWLs at least, but she'll probably agree with him soon. Do you think you can help? If you can't, do you know who can?_

_Procyon_

_PS. He knows about you.Now I'm sure he does._

_PPS. Well, at least I coud tell him now._

So he was right. Nothing good. The Slytherin knew about him (The last of his hope that maybe he was just being paranoid was now gone.) and wanted to keep the kids away from him _and_ from Hogwarts. And there wasn't really much he could do about it. He decided to contact Reg, who, as far as he knew, was on speaking terms with his Slytherin counterpart, but still rather unlikely to persuade him to change his mind about anything.


	18. Another Word for Trouble

**Another Word for Trouble**

Neville Longbottom was quite a good student (at least at Herbology and Defense against the Dark Arts. He was said to have been horrible at Potions. Nobody's perfect), or at least he had been in the first term. Right now something seemed to be very wrong with him.

'You're not concentrating properly,' Sirius said to him as the spell failed to work again.

'I-I'm trying, sir,' the boy said 'I'm doing my best.'

'I've seen you do better, Neville. I know you can,' Sirius tried to encourage him, but it clearly didn't work. Neville was even more nervous than he had been and his spells backfired even more often.

'Is something wrong?' Sirius asked him again.

'No…' Neville replied 'I don't think so…' but at the end of the lesson, as the students left the classroom, he waited until they were all gone and walked over to the teacher's desk.

'You're not mad at me, are you?' he asked.

'No, of course not,' Sirius assured him 'Just a little worried. You did so well in the first term and now… What's the matter with you?'

'I think I just… have to deal with too many things at the same time…' Neville said 'You know, I've got all those _special_ _lessons_ with Dumbledore. And there's the DA, Procyon said you know about that… And Harry says Malfoy's up to something, so I have to try and find out what. And then there's the Apparition course and normal classes…' he finished, almost out of breath after saying so much so fast.

'I see… that's quite a lot,' Sirius agreed.

'And there's the war, and Voldemort -' the boy kept talking.

'I don't think you have to worry about that all the time,' Sirius interrupted 'You're at Hogwarts. It's supposed to be a safe place.'

'It's not that,' Neville replied 'I'm not really scared that Voldemort will attack Hogwarts or something… It's just that everybody's expecting me to be a hero… and I don't think I can…'

'I've heard that you _can_,' Sirius said, suddenly remembering that he was talking to this world's Boy Who Lived.

'I mean, I'm not very powerful, or very smart, or very brave (I mean, I'm in Gryffindor, but sometimes I don't know why)… I don't even like adventures very much. I've had enough to know _adventure_ is just another word for _trouble_.'

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, in which neither of them knew what to say.

'I'm not cut out to be a hero,' Neville said.

'You don't have to be a hero _right now_,' Sirius told him '_Or_ worry about what people say.'

'Thanks,' Neville muttered 'I'm not sure I can do that, but thanks anyway.'

'And I think you need to decide what's most important to you at the moment.'

Sirius knew it was easier to give advice like that than to follow it, but he hoped it might help just a bit. Poor Neville…

XXX

Sirius stared as two shapes appeared in the suddenly green flames in the fireplace. The shapes grew larger and more real and finally fell out of the fire. Sirius looked at the two boys sitting on the floor of his room. Procyon was grinning, but Orion looked rather confused and frightened. A few days earlier Sirius had been rather disappointed to hear that Reg had failed to do anything about the children's father's decision. By now he was almost used to the fact that they were not there any more. Their sudden appearance was quite a surprise.

'We're back!' Procyon said happily.

'That's great,' Sirius replied, still staring at them 'But how - ?'

'Never mind,' Orion muttered 'We're not staying anyway…' he got up and turned to the fireplace 'Come on, Procyon!' he called and turned to his brother again 'Procyon!'

'I'm staying here,' the younger boy said 'And I thought you wanted to stay too!'

'Well, maybe I did,' Orion said 'but this is _crazy_.'

'There's no other way, Orion,' Procyon pointed out.

'Then we should have stayed home. We're going to be in _so_ much trouble!'

'Maybe,' Procyon agreed 'but at least we're going to be _at Hogwarts._'

Orion muttered something about 'crazy Gryffindorks' and sat down on the floor again.

'So what happened?' Sirius asked again 'You're coming back to school, right?'

'Father still won't let us,' Orion pointed out.

'But we're coming back anyway!' Procyon added cheerfully.

'How did you do it then?'

'Well, our parents were not at home,' Procyon explained 'and Cassie was in her room. We managed to sneak into the kitchen and nobody saw us - '

'I think Kreacher might have heard us,' Orion interrupted.

'Well, that was your fault,' Procyon told him.

'No, it was _your_ fault! The whole "Who cares what Father says, let's go back to Hogwarts" thing was your idea. What d'you think he'll do to us when he finds out?' Orion nearly shouted the last question.

Procyon didn't say anything.

'He'll be _furious_!' Orion continued 'He'll burn us both off the bloody tree!'

'Don't worry, it doesn't hurt,' Sirius assured him.

'_What!_' Orion looked up at him in shock.

'I mean, you can sort of _feel_ it, but it isn't really _pain_, you see. You just know it happened - '

'No,' the boy interrupted 'I mean, how do _you_ know?'

Sirius gave a small and not particularly happy laugh.

'Just like this,' he said, imitating the gesture of burning a hole in an imaginary tapestry with a nonexistent wand.

Both boys stared at him, Procyon slightly, Orion _very_ shocked.

'What?' the older boy asked again.

'You never told me about that!' the younger one said 'Was it when you went to Azkaban?'

Orion was shocked again (Procyon was probably trying to shock his brother on purpose). Sirius gave another bitter laugh.

'No, of course not,' he said 'Mum probably regretted it _then_. Unless she knew I wasn't guilty but didn't want to get me out of trouble… That would be just like her, you know…'

'Or she assumed you must be guilty of _something_,' Procyon suggested.

Sirius was about to say that it wasn't funny, when Orion finally regained his ability to talk.

'Will somebody tell me at last what the hell is going on?' he demanded.

Sirius and Procyon exchanged looks

_Should we tell him?_

'Orion,' Sirius said 'You seem to have made an important decision...'

'I… I'm not sure…' Orion muttered.

_He's still not sure! But he already knows either too much or too little._

'You've been thinking. It'll have to do for now. I guess I have to tell you the truth…'

'If you promise not to tell anyone!' Procyon added 'It's a _secret_!'

XXX

'So _that's_ why he wants to keep us away from Hogwarts?' Orion said when Sirius was done telling the story 'because he's _jealous_?'

'He seems to think I might have a… bad influence on you,' Sirius said 'Or maybe he's afraid of me? I don't really know…'

'But…' Orion said 'If you are him, surely you can - '

'I can _guess_ what he thinks, but I can't _just know_. We aren't really one person' Sirius explained 'We haven't been since I was about eleven…'

'That sounded a bit confusing,' Procyon commented.

'It is,' Sirius agreed 'And it makes me think really disturbing thoughts about what could have been, but wasn't. Anyway, I don't know what he's thinking. I can only guess.'

'But you can guess better than anyone else,' Orion pointed out 'What do you think he's going to do now?'

'Well… If he believes he has a reason to keep you out of here, he'll probably try again…'

'But he's already failed once,' Procyon said 'See, Orion? There's nothing to worry about!'

'But if we keep doing it…' Orion argued 'I mean…' he looked up at Sirius 'Didn't you say when you ran away - '

'Oh, stop whining, Orion!' Procyon interrupted him 'Everything will be all right.'

'Sure…' Orion muttered darkly 'Being burned off the tree doesn't hurt. Only I bet going into the Slytherin Common Room afterwards _does_…'

'Too late to back out now,' Procyon told him.

Orion muttered something about Gryffindorks again and the boys left the room and headed for their dormitories.

Sirius sighed. Of course, he was happy to see the boys again. And it was good that Orion was beginning to make a decision. But Sirius was worried about Procyon. The boy seemed to think it was all a great adventure. Well, it was. But Neville had been quite right about adventure.


	19. Other People's Death

_Took me a long time to update again. But don't worry. I **am** going to finish this (it's just going to take a few years ;P ). The ending is too good to leave this unfinished :DSo here's another chapter. Not the best, I think, but the next one will probably be better. And the one after that..._

_I wrote the whole bit about Tonks because I didn't like the way it was showed in HBP. I mean, really, it looked like she had just seen the war begin, her cousin and some other people she knewhad just died and she was all depressed **because the guy she liked wouldn't go out with her**. Luckily, that was just what Harry saw, so I could give her a chance to explain what was really bothering her :)_

_Oh. And a random question to all the Discworld fans out there: Doesn't the idea of Boy-Who-Lived!Neville kind of remind you of Rincewind? I've wanted to ask for a while now..._

_II(:_

**Other People's Death**

The next few days were surprisingly uneventful. Procyon was still very excited about his and Orion's latest _adventure_ and one day he asked Sirius what _'it'_ felt like 'because he'd felt kind of funny this morning', but the next day Orion got a letter in which their father asked him and Procyon to come back home. They didn't and about a week later he got another letter. Sirius's Slytherin counterpart insisted that the boys should stay at home for their own good. He claimed that something very dangerous was going on at Hogwarts and he just wanted to keep his children safe.

'_If you know what's going on here,'_ Procyon wrote back despite his brother's protests '_why don't you tell Dumbledore and let him keep all the students safe?'_

The father apparently had his reasons not to follow his son's advice.

Neville seemed to have sorted a few things out and was doing better at his classes again.

Back in London, Reg was making quite a lot of progressin his research of the Mysterious Veil of Apparently-Not-Quite-Death. He said Sirius might be able to return to his world in less than half a year if everything goes well.

The minister was being an idiot as usual. He had tried to make Dumbledore let him talk to Neville (which probably would have caused the boy to lose his ability to concentrate again), but the Headmaster had refused. And disappeared for a few days, which wa quite mysterious, but not really Sirius's business. Many things weren't his business. So many that he finally had some time to think about things that _were_ his business

XXX

It wasn't that Luna was stupid. She was, in fact, one of the most intelligent students in her year. No, the problem with Luna was that she was too honest for her own good. And she tended to believe other people were like that as well. Like whoever had told her about the Crumple-Horned Snorcacks and Rufus Scrimgeour being a vampire.

Had she told anyone about Sirius? He still didn't have a better explanation. He didn't really blame her any more, though. She could have trusted someone who shouldn't be trusted. He of all the people knew how easy that was…

XXX

Tonks showed up at Hogwarts one day.

'Oh, it's you?' Sirius said when he ran into her. He hardly recognized her. With her face paler and thinner than usual and her hair a rather depressing shade of brown, she looked rather miserable.

'Yeah,' she said 'I'm looking for Dumbledore. He's not in his office.'

'I tink he's gone away again,' Sirius informed her 'Where does he go all the time anyway?' he wondered.

'I've heard some rumors,' the girl said 'but none of them sound true anyway.'

This wasn't good. This wasn't her normal behavior. Normally she would have been happy to discuss all the rumors she'd heard, no matter how ridiculous they were. She would have laughed at the wildest theories and searched for the grain of truth in the ones that might contain it. If people were talking about something, she certainly would have wanted to talk about it too.

'What's the matter with you?' he asked her.

'Nothing,' she said 'I'm just a little tired.'

'I can see that there's something wrong.'

'Well, I don't feel like talking about it.'

So it was really bad. It always is when people say things like that. When somebody thinks they just need to be left alone for a while, you _really_ should keep an eye on them.

'Come on,' Sirius said 'Tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help you?'

'No, _really_,' Tonks answered 'I don't _need_ any help. I'm just…' She stopped talking for a second or two. When she spoke again, she sounded as if she was about to cry.

'I'm scared,' she said 'Sirius, I'm scared…'

A few minutes later they were sitting in Sirius's room and Tonks finally agreed to explain what it was that she was afraid of.

'I thought I knew what I was doing,' she said 'I knew it _might be dangerous_. But now I feel like I didn't really know what it meant…'

Sirius wasn't sure he understood what she meant, but she only paused for a moment to take a deep breath and continued talking before he could ask.

'I became an Auror to make the world safer for other people,' she said 'To _fight evil_. Then I realised that the Ministry didn't really seem to want to do any of those things. So I joined the Order because _they_ did.'

Sirius nodded slowly. He had known that much…

'I was sure I knew what it meant,' Tonks kept talking 'I knew I could get in trouble. I knew I could get hurt… And then the war began… I knew it would happen. I knew as soon as I heard You-Know-Who wa back… I just… I guess I didn't understand… I knew people would die. But it seemed like something that only happens to other people…' she made another pause, too short for Sirius to decide what question to ask 'But nothing only happens to other people. Not even death… Not even _other people's death_…'

She looked up at Sirius, who was thinking about what she had just said. Of course other people's death wasn't something that only happened to other people. He thought about Lily and James… and Frank and Alice in this world, and a lot of others. He had said many times he would have died to save them if there actually was a chance that it would help. He had told the truth. Other people's death is worse than your own. It can happen to you many times.

'Emmaline Vance was my friend…' the girl sobbed 'And they… they…'

'I know, I know…'

She looked up at him again and probably wanted to scream at him that he had no idea what it was like, but she realised that he did. Other people's death had happened to him as well.

'I thought Remus would comfort me at least,' Tonks said instead, blushing slightly 'And what does he do? He goes to live with those savages, to spy on Greyback. He puts himself in danger because he says it's _the only thing he's good for!_ If they realise he's one of us…' she sobbed 'You know what _they_ can do…'

He did. He had been quite disturbed himself when he heard about that kid who had been attacked by a werewolf.

'I know…' he said 'And Remus knows _better_ than I do…' he added 'I don't like the idea any more than you do, but…'

_But what? 'I hope he knows what he's doing'?_

'And if I lose one more person I care about…' Tonks was crying now 'I… I don't know what I'll do…'


	20. The Calm Before

**The Calm Before**

Another person who was feeling miserable at the time was Orion. He still seemed unsure about the decision he had been forced to make.

'It was easier for you,' he once told Sirius 'You were not in Slytherin.'

Sirius sighed. After meeting his counterpart he could not just say Slytherin had nothing to do with anything.

'And now everybody knows I'm not supposed to be here,' Orion continued 'Cassie wrote about it to Blaise and then he told Theo, and Pansy overheard it. And when _she_ finds out something she's not supposed to know…'

'It must be hard for you…'

'Yeah. I've tried to tell them I just wanted to come back here… That it doesn't mean I'm some kind of… I don't know… And then Draco said if I don't know whose side I'm on, I really had better go home… I think he knows what's going on here…'

_Interesting… What _had_ the Malfoy kid got himself involved in? He was right about one thing, though. Not knowing whose side you were on was not good…_

'Or you could make a choice already,' Sirius said.

XXX

Apart from that nothing unusual (at least by Hogwarts standards) was happening at the school. It was spring, the weather was beautiful, the students seemed to be spending a lot of time by the lake in pairs or small groups. Sirius wondered when they studied for the exams that were about to begin really soon, but then he remembered he hadn't really worked too hard either when he was their age.

One day Cassiopia showed up at the school accompanied by a pretty blonde witch, who must have been her mother (This made Sirius think about how unfair it was that his Slytherin counterpart's life seemed so much better than his own.) and asked the Headmaster to let her take her O.W.L.s together with everyone else. She returned home as soon as the exams were over. The mother tried to persuade her sons to come as well, but they refused.

But why were the Blacks so desperate to keep their children out of Hogwarts? What did it have to do with whatever Malfoy was up to? And where did Dumbledore keep disappearing whenever somebody needed him?

Everything seemed nice and calm at the moment. But was it the calm before the storm?

XXX

One morning a letter from Regulus arrived. It didn't give much information, since the things going on in the Department of Mysteries were supposed to be kept secret, but it did give hope.

_Padfoot,_ Sirius's brother wrote,

_We're making even more progress than we expected with the Project. It should be ready by the end of the summer (Guess you won't be the first DADA teacher in fifty years to last longer than a year). We've discovered some really interesting things thanks to you! Of course, I'm not supposed to talk about most of them, but there are some things we need to discuss. Is it OK if I come to Hogwarts in the evening?_

_Reg_

So he was going home…

When he told Procyon about it in the afternoon the boy was very excited, but also a bit disappointed.

'I'm gonna miss you,' he said 'when you're gone…'

And Sirius realised he was going to miss many people from this world as well. He remembered that in his world Lily, James and Regulus were dead and his children didn't have counterparts at all. Did he want to go back? He had been _waiting_ for it. But did he _want_ it? It was one of those things that you wait for so impatiently, that when they finally come, you are suddenly afraid of them and when it's all over, you find yourself missing the waiting.

'Do you think I can come with you?' Procyon asked suddenly.

'What?' Sirius wasn't sure he had heard him correctly.

'Come with you,' the boy repeated 'To that other world.'

'Procyon, do you _realize_ what you just _said_?' Sirius was shocked.

'Yeah,' Procyon replied, which just proved that he didn't 'And I could be _your_ son, instead of my Father's…'

(It was, in fact, quite ironic, that the one of his children who was most similar to Sirius himself had been born in the time when it was_ physically impossible_ in the other world for Sirius to have _any contact_ with the children's mother. It was also a little scary.)

'My son?' he repeated 'Honestly, Procyon, do you realize what that would mean? What it would be like? _My son_?'

'Yeah…' the boy said again 'Wouldn't that be cool?'

'No.'

XXX

In the evening Regulus came to tell his brother the latest news about his research. Apparently, by the end of the summer it was going to be possible to use the Veil for traveling between alternate universes.

'We're still not sure it's safe,' he said 'and I don't know what else it could possibly be used for. Apart from sending you back, that is. But you'll be able to go back home soon. What do you think?'

Sirius wasn't sure what to think.

'I should be happy, I guess,' he said after a moment of awkward silence 'It's not the best world in the… Well… not the best world there _is_… but it _is_ home, isn't it?'

'Just what I thought you'd say…'

'I'm going to miss you,' Sirius said 'And the kids… And being able to get a job and live a nearly normal life…'

'You don't know what happened in your world during that year,' Regulus pointed out 'Maybe you've been proved innocent?'

'Yeah, right, like that will ever happen,' Sirius had stopped believing in that about two years ago. Actually he had stopped believing in it fourteen years ago, then he had began to hope again when he had managed the supposedly impossible and escaped from Azkaban to search for the rat whose picture he had seen in a newspaper. Then he had lost his belief again when he found himself locked in a house he hated for his so-called own good 'But maybe Dumbledore will let me out of that house more often?' he added hopefully.

His brother didn't seem to know what to say.

'Anyway, when will it be possible?' Sirius asked.

'Some time in July, I think,' Reg replied 'We still need to check a couple of things. Then set it on your universe… That must be done very precisely, you know?' he said.

'Yeah, I can imagine,' Sirius agreed 'Not all alternate universes are as nice as this one. If it sends me to the wrong world, I might be in trouble… More trouble than I'm usually in.'

'We think there's a lot of space _between_ worlds too,' Reg added 'Not proper universes, just… nobody knows what really…'

'I was lucky then, wasn't I?' Sirius asked 'To end up in a real universe at all…'

'It seems so,' Regulus agreed.

'And this is a good world, you know?' Sirius added 'I like it here.'

Quite a lot had happened during that year. The last summer, when Sirius had been so confused, James and Remus had not trusted him and people who were supposed to be his friends had treated him like a stranger, seemed like ages ago. The world he had come from seemed unreal now, like a dream that appears very real while he was still dreaming, but now that he was awake, he could see how ridiculous it had all been.

_It was not!_ He told himself, _It was… it_ is _real and it is my _home_! And there are people there who probably miss me. I _must_ go back!_

'What's wrong?' his brother asked him 'Aren't you happy?'

'I think I should be, shouldn't I?' Sirius replied 'But it does feel odd… When I came here, this world was so strange. Now I think I got used to it. And now it's the _other_ world that seems like another world…'

'Hmm…'

'People are not supposed to travel between alternate universes,' Sirius said.

'Yeah, I guess you're right,' Reg agreed 'Although it was nice to meet you… To see there actually was hope for my brother.'

'I could say he same about you, you know?' Sirius laughed.

They joked, laughed and just talked for a while, until suddenly the door burst open and Procyon ran into the room, looking scared out of his mind.

'What's going on?' Sirius stood up quickly.


	21. The Storm

_I know I'm not very good at describing battles, but hey, at least it didn't take me two months again! _

_Oh yeah, I've been thinking of wirting two more stories from the same universe as this (or almost). One is a one-shot (probably) about how exactly Procyon and Orion got back to Hogwarts in chapter 18. The other is a sort of alternate ending to this story. Do you think I should actually try to write them?_

_Please, review. I like reviews :)_

_II(:_

**The Storm**

'Calm down,' Regulus said, even though he didn't seem particularly calm himself 'Sirius, sit down. Procyon, take a deep breath and tell us what's going on.'

'There's no time for deep breaths,' the boy panted 'Death Eaters at Hogwarts!'

'What!'

'How did they get in here?'

'Dunno. Someone must have let them in,' Procyon said 'Come quickly,' he added 'We need help.'

'Where are they?' Sirius asked, as the two men stood up again and headed for the door 'How many? What's happening?'

'Just follow me,' Procyon said running out of the door 'And get your wands ready,' he added, taking out his own.

'Procyon,' Reg said 'You _can't_ -'

'What? Go there and fight? The boy asked.

'You are fourteen years old,' Reg said 'It's a job for adults. It is not a game!'

'Harry is there,' Procyon pointed out 'And the Weasleys, and -'

'All right, all right,' Sirius agreed 'But _do _try not to get killed.' He hoped this might make the kid realize how dangerous the situation was, but it did not work.

They ran until they reached the hall that had become a battlefield. Most of the Hogwarts teachers and a few students were fighting against a large group of Death Eaters. Curses were flying in all directions, the place was a horrible mess and the Dark side seemed to be wining. Sirius didn't know what else he could do, so he joined in and fired a curse at the Death Eater who appeared to be trying to kill Harry. Regulus shouted something, but his brother couldn't hear it any more.

XXX

The situation was getting better now, since several members of the Order had arrived at the school and joined in the fight. Probably Reg had called them when Sirius was already dueling with a Death Eater. He had to admit that, despite having much less of the typically Gryffindor kind of courage, his brother was better at thinking logically in dangerous or stressful situations. Now they had a good chance of winning the battle.

XXX

As his opponent fell unconscious to the floor, Sirius looked around to see where his help was needed. What he saw was quite a nasty shock. Fenrir Greyback was approaching Procyon with a hungry look on his face. A moment later came another shock. Before Sirius had time to rise his wand and curse the werewolf, a man wearing Death Eater robes and mask ran over to the two of them.

'Get your filthy paws off the boy!' he said 'I'll deal with him.'

_Why would it matter to a Death Eater?_ Sirius wondered.

'That's what you get for disobeying your father,' the man said to Procyon, pointing a wand at him. He was probably grinning under his white mask.

Sirius had no time to defend the child, though, as the werewolf decided to attack him instead. It happened so suddenly that Sirius didn't manage to keep him at a distance. Before he could do anything, they were wrestling. That was not good. The werewolf was bigger and much stronger than him and had much more practice in using his own teeth and nails as weapons. He never, however, seemed to use a wand. Sirius doubted he even had one. That was his only chance. If only he could get a few steps farther form him…

XXX

Sirius probably wouldn't have even noticed Snape running down the stairs from the tower and making his way through the crowd, dragging Draco Malfoy along, if the Potions Master hadn't ran straight into him.

'Watch it, Snivellus!' Sirius shouted, as his hex missed his opponent and accidentally burned a hole in McGonagall's hat. Then he glanced at Snape again. He and Malfoy seemed to be running away from something. A few moments later Sirius nearly collided with another person: Neville Longbottom.

'Where did he go?' Neville didn't even bother to apologize.

'Who?'

'Snape'

Sirius pointed in the direction where the Potions teacher had disappeared.

'What happened?' he asked.

Neville tried to explain something, but Sirius couldn't hear it through all the noise. He only understood the words 'Dumbledore', 'dead' and 'Snape'. What the boy had meant, he wasn't sure. When Neville started running again, apparently trying to catch up with the Potions Master and Malfoy, Sirius decided to run after him in case he was about to do something dangerous. Boy-Who-Lived or not, whatever he was up to, he'd better not do it alone. They left the fighting crowd behind, ran down a few flights of stairs. They reached the exit and ran outside into the night.

The night outside was dark and stormy, as though someone Up There wanted it to look even more dramatic. And done quite a good job. Flashes of lightning and curses seemed to be the main source of light. Near the forest Sirius could see an enormous figure fighting several smaller ones. So they had attacked Hagrid too. A few steps ahead Neville looked around in the darkness and saw Snape and Malfoy running across the grounds. He took a deep breath and continued running. Sirius followed him. He thought he could hear footsteps behind, as though someone was chasing him as well, but there was no time to look back. They had to catch up with Snape...

But Snape and Malfoy were too far away. And as soon as they reached the gate and got outside the Hogwarts grounds, the Potions Master grabbed Malfoy's arm and they Disapparated together. Neville stopped running and just stood there staring at the spot where they had been standing only a moment ago. Sirius ran to the spot and cast a tracking spell. Now that he knew where the two had gone, he could follow them. He concentrated on the place and was about to follow Snape when somebody jumped on him from behind. They disappeared together. Where, he did not know.

XXX

It could have been worse. Apparition accidents can be really dangerous, especially ones involving more than one person and a lack of proper concentration. He was quite sure he had not left any part of his body behind. They had only missed the spot. By a few miles or so. They were in the Department of Mysteries again. In the same room where all this madness had started! Sirius turned his head to see the masked Death Eater still holding on to him. It must have been the same one who had 'saved' Procyon from Greyback only to practice Unforgivables on the poor boy. Most of the others had not been wearing masks.

XXX

Sirius dodged another curse and made sure he was still facing the Veil. He wasn't about to make the same mistake again. He fired a curse at the masked Death Eater. He missed and it hit the arch. Another curse. And another. Whoever the man was, he was good at dueling. Finally Sirius managed to hit him with a hex. Right in the face. It would have injured the man quite badly if he wasn't wearing a mask. Sirius was just about to curse him again, when the mask fell off and revealed the Death Eater's face. Sirius stared.


	22. The Mysterious Veil of NotReallyDeath

_All right, here's another chapter. That wasn't hard to guess, was it?_

_II(:_

**The Mysterious Veil of Not-Really-Death**

'Surprised?' his counterpart asked.

'A little,' Sirius admitted 'Although maybe I should have guessed it on my own.'

'Scared?'

'Of what?' he laughed 'Of you?' He couldn't let him know how shocked he was.

'Of what _you_ could have been…' the Death Eater grinned evilly.

'Not really,' Sirius said 'I thought you knew me a little better… How did you know anyway?' Now that his counterpart had admitted it openly, he couldn't resist asking.

'I guess I can tell you now,' the Slytherin agreed 'You won't get out of here alive anyway.'

'Wanna bet?' Sirius muttered, but his counterpart didn't pay any attention to it.

'Your friend, Pettigrew told me all about you,' the Death Eater said.

_Aaargh! Not again!_

'I promised to get rid of you for him. He was so afraid you might blow his cover…'

_Note to self: try to kill the rat _again.

'And now I think I'll keep my promise,' the Death Eater raised his wand.

XXX

It was like fighting a mirror, or possibly even more confusing, since it was impossible to tell which one of them was real and which was only a reflection of the other. _What if _I_ am the reflection? _Sirius thought_, What if he is the real one?_

A curse missed him by half an inch. _No time for this now,_ he thought. Now they were fighting. They were closer to the Veil now than they had been in the beginning. It was starting to remind him of a similar situation nearly a year ago. Except, of course, he was _not_ going to make the same mistake again. At the moment he was the one facing the thing. He had to make sure it stayed that way.

_And what then?_ he asked himself,_ What am I going to do? He's _me, _for Merlin's sake! But he's a _Death Eater_. And he wants to _kill me!

Another curse nearly hit him. And then his curse hit his other self. _Almost there... _He couldn't… He _had to!_ It was his only chance.

XXX

Sirius Black - the only one - was alone in the room with the Veil, staring at it and thinking about what he had just done. He was so shocked he hardly noticed the faint _pop_ of someone Apparating behind him. He knew he should turn around quickly and point his wand at whoever it was, but he felt almost unable to move. He stared at the veil, which was still moving. It was hard to believe what had happened here only a moment ago. Not only had he pushed someone through that _thing_, into another world, but the _someone_ had, in some twisted way, been _himself!_

'Padfoot!' he heard a voice call. A boy's voice. What the hell was Procyon doing here? He turned around. The boy was standing there, next to Reg.

'What happened?' Reg asked.

'He was me…' Sirius said stupidly, looking back at the veil again 'He was me, Reg…'

'Who? What? Where? Why?' Regulus couldn't decide what exactly he wanted to ask.

'Where did the Death Eater go?' Procyon asked 'The one who jumped on you when you Apparated?'

'He… he… I… I'm sorry about it, really… He's… He was… I didn't know…'

XXX

A few minutes later the three of them were at Regulus's house. Sirius had already began to get over the shock and realize how exhausted he was.

'So, what happened?' his brother asked him as they sat down in the living room.

'You sent him to another world, didn't you?' Procyon asked excitedly.

'I… Yeah, I did,' Sirius admitted 'I had to do it,' he explained 'If I didn't, he would have - '

Reg was about to say something, but Sirius didn't let him.

'You don't understand,' he said 'You don't know _who he was_!'

'Who was he then?'

'It was _him,_' the way Sirius said the word made it quite clear who he meant.

There was an awkward silence as the meaning of the words sank in.

'I had no idea he was a Death Eater,' Reg said finally.

'This is so weird,' Procyon said, suddenly not sure what to do or say.

'I'm really sorry about it, Procyon,' Sirius said again 'I didn't mean it to happen that way… I didn't know it was _him_… And now you're left without a father…'

'I'm not,' the boy interrupted 'I've got you.'

'Got it!' Regulus exclaimed suddenly. The other two turned to stare at him.

'Padfoot,' he said 'You can go replace… Procyon's father… You _are_ him after all.'

'But what about -?'

'Strange things tend to happen to Defence teachers,' said Procyon, who, surprisingly, didn't seem sad or angry about his father's fate at all 'Nobody'll be surprised that Professor Schwarz is gone… Or dead, or something...'

Sirius suddenly realised another unpleasant fact.

'So now whatever I choose people will think I'm a murderer… _again_…'

'Nobody knows who the masked Death Eater was,' Reg pointed out 'You are the only one who saw his face.'

Sirius understood what he had meant, even though _he_ would never have come up with a plan like this himself.

'You're a true Slytherin,' he told his brother (this time not meaning it as an insult).

'You didn't really think I only went there to make Mother happy?' Reg said.

'So I won't go back?' Sirius asked.

'With all the spells that hit the Veil it will probably take ages to get it ready to send you back,' Regulus explained. And then they returned to discussing his plan.

XXX

Procyon went to get some necessary things and the two brothers were left alone. They were about to begin carrying out Reg's plan, but Sirius still had some doubts.

'What about… him…?' he asked 'You know… He might be in my world right now…'

'I feel sorry for him if he is,' Reg replied.

'What? Why?'

'Well, you know,' the younger brother explained 'He'll try to find me – but I'm dead, his kids – but they were never born, his wife – but she doesn't want to know him. And then he'll go home and Mother will scream at him… Can you imagine his face?' he laughed.

'Hey! It's my face too, you know!'

'Well, can you?'

'Yeah…' Sirius had to admit it was funny.

XXX

'Do I have to?'

'Yes, you do.'

'Oh, all right then,' he finally agreed 'Just don't make me look like an idiot, okay?'

'But the whole point is to make you look like _him_!'

XXX

'Why did I agree to do this again?' Sirius muttered.

'Because of my _wonderful_ plan,' Reg replied 'and because - '

'You're such a Slytherin.'

'I know, Gryffindork.'

'That's _so_ old,' Sirius teased 'Your other self used to call me that when I was eleven.'

'My other self sounds pretty smart then.'

'Unlike you,' Sirius wanted to turn around and make a face at his brother, but he knew it wasn't a good idea right now.

'Or you.'

'Why, you little - '

'Whatever you want to say,' Reg interrupted 'It's not a good idea to say it to a guy who is holding a pair of very sharp scissors so close to your head. And neither is shaking your head, by the way.'

'Then stop making me laugh.'

But as he calmed down, he began to worry again.

'You know, it _is_ quite scary,' he said.

'What?' Reg asked 'What could possibly frighten the _fearless Gryffindork_?'

'Pretending to be someone you never even _wanted_ to be,' Sirius suggested 'It's quite scary, you know,' he thought for a moment 'I think your other self used to do it a lot' he said 'but…'

'Yeah, I understand…'

'And then imagine you suddenly have three kids and you don't remember ever as much as _talking_ to their mother.'

'Yeah… That must be weird…'

'And I've just thrown a guy into another world, and now I'm taking his place. That's just wrong!'

'It is,' Reg agreed 'but anything else would have been even _more_ wrong,' he put down the scissors 'There,' he said 'Finished.'

He handed his brother a mirror and let him stare at himself in shock for a while.

'Damn it,' Sirius said 'I _do_ look like him…'

A few minutes later, when Procyon returned with some of his father's robes, he stared at Sirius in disbelief.

'Padfoot…?' he whispered.

'The one and only.'


	23. If I Were You

_All right, so here's the last chapter. I might write an alternate ending to the storylater, but I don't think I'm gong to do it soon because I've got lots of other things to do. Anyway, the alternate ending involves Sirius going back to his world and Procyon following him (and, yes, probably canon!Harry will be in the story). Would you like to see it?_

_II(:_

_PS. I like reveiws ;P_

**If I Were You**

Sirius woke up the next morning in a bed that was not his, beside a woman he did not know. The events of the previous day floated back to the surface of his mind. The battle at Hogwarts. The duel at the Ministry. Regulus's plan. He remembered everything he had found out yesterday. His counterpart had been a Death Eater. The reason why he had wanted to keep the kids out of the school was that he had known what was coming. Wormtail had betrayed them again. Dumbledore was dead and, according to Neville Longbottom, the only witness, he had been killed by Snape. Apart from that no one on their side had died, but a few people had been badly injured. And, of course, Sirius's own life had just turned upside down.

The short hair still felt strange and the new robes were not the kind he was used to. Well, he would have to get used to them. And to many other things. He would have to get used to all the consequences of the seemingly small change in his past. Only a few days ago he would have thought it can't be that hard. He had to admit he had been a bit jealous of _the other one_. Of his nearly normal life and almost happy family. Of course, if he could get a chance to live his counterpart's life, he still would have made many different choices. Many times he had wanted to tell him something like 'I wouldn't do that if I were you'. Well, he _was_ him. And now he was about to begin a new life.

But first he wanted to do something his other self probably wouldn't have done. He thought he ought to attend Dumbledore's funeral. Back in the other world the headmaster had probably attended his.

XXX

'Have you heard what happened at Hogwarts last night?' the woman – _he had to start thinking of her as his wife!_ – asked him. _So she didn't know he'd been there? That was good._

'I have,' he replied.

'We should have known something like that would happen,' Cassiopia said 'With You-Know-Who's worst enemy as headmaster. It was stupid of Procyon and Orion to stay there.'

'I hope they didn't get hurt,' said the mother 'They should come back home immediately.'

'I will write to them,' Sirius said 'and ask them to come back.'

'The idiots will probably still want to stay,' Cassie said 'to go to that old fool's funeral.'

'Cassiopia!' The mother said 'Don't call your brothers idiots!'

'Sorry, Mother.'

'And _you_,' the woman said to Sirius 'will go and bring them back here.'

'Isn't it a little too late for that anyway?' he replied 'And if they choose to stay there - '

'Sirius, what's wrong with you? You really aren't yourself today…'

He _was_ himself, of course. It's just that he was his _other _self. The woman had no idea of course.

XXX

Albus Dumbledore had spent most of his life at Hogwarts. He had died at Hogwarts too. And now he was being buried on the Hogwarts grounds. Everybody agreed that being dead was not a reason for him to leave the school.

Quite a lot of people had gathered to say goodbye to him. To some of them he had been very important. Some had admired him. Many had respected him. And a few were just important people from the Ministry who had thought showing up at the ceremony would be good for their image. Few of them noticed a large black dog sitting on the grass and watching. The dog, however, noticed quite a lot…

He noticed that Bill Weasley had scars all over his face, looking as if someone had, unsuccessfully, thank Merlin, tried to bite off his nose and claw out his eyes (Which might have actually been the case). He saw Remus and Tonks sitting next to each other and looking as happy as it is possible to look at a funeral. He noticed the Minister trying to talk to Neville about something but whatever he was saying the boy didn't seem to agree. He noticed Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione sitting together and talking. He noticed Luna Lovegood standing alone, also watching everybody else. Now he knew she had never given away his secret. He had never let her know he blamed her for that, but he still felt guilty about it. He wasn't supposed to let anyone know he was there, but he had to apologize to the girl. He approached her and looked up at her, hoping she would understand he wants her to follow. He found a place where nobody could see them and transformed.

'Mr. Black?' Luna looked up at him, surprised.

'Hello, Miss Lovegood,' he said.

'Which one are you?' she asked. _How do you answer a question like that?_

'The… uh… the one I don't look like,' he tried.

'I knew it,' It was scary how she always noticed everything.

'You won't tell anyone, will you?' he asked.

'You've already asked me that once.'

'And now I know you kept your promise,' he said 'I'm sorry.'

'Excuse me?'

'For a while I thought you hadn't,' he explained 'And I know what it feels like to - '

'I know,' she said 'But it's all right. I didn't even know about it. Why do you look like the other one?' she asked.

But there was no time to answer. Sirius saw Neville walk across the grounds towards them. Well, Neville could probably be trusted, but the fewer people knew the better. Showing himself to Luna had been too much. He transformed into a dog again, walked a few steps away and watched.

XXX

'I-I'm sorry, Luna,' Neville said 'It was wonderful and all… but… but…' he stuttered 'I don't think it can work now… It's… Someone might try to hurt me… by hurting you…'

'Is it my turn now to say I don't care?' Luna wasn't too worried 'People have been saying that a lot lately…'

'Does that mean… what I think it means?' said Neville, staring at her.

'I think it does.'

'You still want to be… err…' he blushed slightly 'more than friends?'

'I want to be _more_ than more than friends,' she told him 'I want to be your _friend._ And as a friend, I can't leave you when you need me._'_

Neville just stared at her in disbelief.

'You're not going anywhere alone,' she kept talking 'I'm going with you.'

Harry approached them.

'So am I,' he said 'And Ron and Hermione are coming too probably. Ron said he was coming.'

'But Harry -'

'I owe it to you, Neville,' Harry said 'For all the times I got you into trouble. I guess I should help you deal with your trouble for once. And besides, it could have been me, right?'

'I'll help you too!' Procyon shouted as he ran over to the group.

Sirius thought he would have to remind him later that he was not to leave the school until he passed his O.W.L.s at least. But if there was something he could do without leaving school, there was no point in stopping him. It wouldn't work anyway. The kid wouldn't listen to him, would he? And there was no point saying 'if I were you…', because Sirius knew very well he would have done the same. And besides, everyone was just themselves… well… almost everyone…

**The End**


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